The Prophecy for Christmas
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: A new prophecy is made on Harry's first evening at Hogwarts, but it has a deadline. Will Harry be able to fulfil it by Christmas? Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel, James Potter not Harry's father, mentioning abuse!Dursleys, partly sick!Harry. My Advent's Calendar story for 2013 with daily updates.
1. December 1

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

**_As this is my Advent's Calendar story for 2013, it will be a story with small chapters and daily updates!_**

* * *

**1 December**

Harry Potter, now officially a first-year Gryffindor student, was happily sitting at the House table, enjoying the most delicious meal that he had ever tasted. He eagerly listened to the conversations going on around himself, when all of a sudden, everyone became quiet.

Together with everyone else, Harry turned his head to the Head table, from where a raspy voice could be heard.

_"The vanquisher foretold to banish the undead shall unite with his blood. Guided by the celestial presence, Yuletide shall see them united."_

With that the witch, who had spoken, became quiet and leaned back in her seat with her eyes closed.

_'What was that, and who is that teacher?'_ Harry wondered, when Percy Weasley kindly enlightened the first years, "That was Professor Trelawney, the Divination teacher, and apparently, she just made a prophecy - even if I don't have a clue what it might be about."

While most of the first years stared from the fifth year prefect to the Divination professor in awe, the Weasley twins began to chuckle.

"After all that we heard about her..."

"... she's a complete fraud..."

"Maybe she was inspired tonight..."

"... by the Sorting Hat's song," they announced in a funny sing-song that made Harry chuckle.

_'I like the twins,'_ he thought. _'They're really comical.'_

HP

While the students happily continued their meal, Severus Snape exchanged concerned looks with the Headmaster and his deputy. _'A new prophecy, and this time about Potter and a relative of him? I thought his Muggle relatives were his only living relatives? How will Muggles be able to assist him fight the Dark Lord?'_ he mused, incredulously.

"After dinner, we'll meet in my office to discuss the latest prophecy," Dumbledore suggested.

However, Severus shook his head. "No Albus, I'm sorry, but I have a House meeting to hold, and afterwards I must brew an urgent potion for a fifth year, who has taken ill on the train," he excused himself. "It'll take until around midnight."

"Very well then, that gives me a day to think about the matter," the Headmaster said, pleasantly. "Let's meet after the last afternoon class tomorrow then. Is that all right with you too, Minerva?"

The Scottish lioness nodded, smiling.

HP

As soon as the meal was finished, the prefects led the Gryffindor first years to their common room. Harry looked at the paintings in the halls with interest. _'The people in the paintings move,'_ he thought, happily, _'like in my pictures, which Aunt Petunia used to throw away because of their freakishness.'_

Thirty minutes later, he was lying in his most comfortable four poster bed in the first year boys' dormitory, feeling very happy. _'I really like it here,'_ he thought. _'Everyone seems really nice, and they all have magic like me. No one's going to call me a freak here.'_

He was just about to slowly drift off to sleep, when all of a sudden, an unknown, male voice penetrated his mind.

_'Hello Harry,'_ the voice said, sounding slightly grumpy. _'Welcome to Hogwarts.'_

_.'_

_tbc tomorrow..._


	2. December 2

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**2 December**

'Who are you?' Harry thought back, however, the voice continued as if it had not heard his question.

'A prophecy has been made about you and your uncle. Therefore, there's something you need to do, and we're going to assist you,' the voice explained.

'Who is we?' Harry asked in confusion. Alas, the voice chose to ignore him again. _'Maybe it can't hear me,'_ he thought. _'__I don't know...'_ He was brought out of his musings, when the voice continued to speak in his mind.

'You need to go and find the portrait of the Founders of Hogwarts. It's further down the corridor, in which the hospital wing is situated,' the voice instructed him, before it continued, 'I'm going to let you sleep now. I'll see you, when you come to visit the portrait. Don't forget to bring your uncle.'

_'My uncle?' _Harry thought, incredulously. _'Uncle Vernon wouldn't come to Hogwarts with me, even if I told him that it was because of a prophecy.'_

With that he drifted off to sleep, dreaming of his uncle, who was fleeing from a group of witches and wizards on broomsticks in the moving paintings in the Hogwarts corridors. He woke up with a jolt, when he felt his uncle grip his shoulder.

HP

When Harry lazily opened his eyes, he realised that it was not his uncle but Ron, who was gently shaking his shoulder. _'Thank Merlin_,' he thought in relief. _'Uncle Vernon's not here.'_

"Harry, wake up," his friend said, urgently. "Breakfast is going to begin any minute now, and I'm starving."

"Oh all right, I'm coming," Harry replied, lazily reaching for his glasses. He hurriedly got ready for the day and left the dormitory behind his friend. When he trailed down the huge staircase, his thoughts wandered back to the voice that had spoken in his mind the previous night. _'Was that real? Or was it just a dream?'_ he wondered, not feeling sure about the matter anymore.

"Harry, are you feeling all right?" Hermione, the girl who was sitting on his right side, asked, noticing that he was very absentminded and barely touched his food.

"Oh yes, sorry, I'm fine," Harry replied, smiling. "I was just thinking about something."

"Oh well, you better come on; we don't want to be late for class," the girl instructed him, and Harry obediently followed her and Ron to the Transfiguration classroom.

Still thinking about his nightly conversation, he hesitantly addressed the girl, when they were on their way to the Potions classroom for their second morning class. "What do you know about the Founders of Hogwarts?" he asked, having noticed that Hermione seemed to possess huge knowledge about everything.

She began a long lasting monologue about the Founders of Hogwarts, told Harry that Godric Gryffindor had been the Headmaster, Transfiguration professor, a phoenix Animagus and husband of Rowena Ravenclaw.

"Ravenclaw was the Charms teacher and was known to be a Seer, while Helga Hufflepuff was the Healing professor and married to Salazar Slytherin," the girl continued. "He was the Potions professor and is said..."

She quickly interrupted herself, seeing that the Professor Snape had just entered the classroom.

_'That doesn't give me any hint where the portrait of the Founders might be,'_ Harry thought, when he recalled that the voice had told him that he could find it behind the hospital wing. Before he could even wonder where the hospital wing might be situated, Professor Snape began to speak, and Harry hurried to concentrate on the professor's speech and take notes.

From that point onwards, everything went downwards for Harry. Apparently not realising that Harry had merely busied himself copying every single word of his speech, the professor began belittling Harry and bombarding him with questions that he was unable to answer. By the time the class ended, Harry was certain that the professor absolutely despised him.

HP

After the last afternoon class, Harry was torn between joining his classmates in the common room to do his homework and going to search for the Founders' portrait. _'Maybe I better get a head start on my homework. I wouldn't want the other teachers to become as upset at myself as Snape was this morning,'_ he thought and resolved to ask the Weasley twins at dinner where the hospital wing was.

"We'll show you the way right after dinner," Fred promised, causing Hermione to look at him in apparent concern.

"Harry, are you all right? Do you want me to accompany you?" she queried, giving him a sharp look.

"I'm fine, just a bit of a headache," Harry replied what was not even a lie. Ever since their Defence Against the Dark Arts class in the early afternoon, his head had been sore. At first, he had thought that his scar was hurting; however, the pain in his scar had receded after the class and had been replaced by a normal headache. Not that he would go to the hospital wing just because of a headache; he definitely wouldn't. But at least it gave him an excuse for now.

In front of the hospital wing, he thanked the twins profusely and reassured Hermione and Ron, who had accompanied them, that he would be fine on his own. Only after his four friends had left did he pass in front of the hospital wing and began to search for the portrait of the Founders.

_'There's no such thing,'_ he thought in disappointment, _'although the corridor is so dusty as if it hadn't been used for many years, and even if there was a portrait, I probably wouldn't be able to see it anyway.'_

All of a sudden, a soft, female voice penetrated his ears. "Hello Harry, I'm Rowena Ravenclaw, your many times great grandmother. I'm very happy that you came to look for our portrait, but I'm afraid you won't be able to see the painting. Did Salazar not tell you that it was charmed to only be visible for you if you were together with your uncle?"

Harry stared into the white mist in shock. "Hello Professor Ravenclaw," he replied, politely, before he added, "I'm sorry Madame, but under this condition I won't be able to see your portrait at all, as I won't be able to come here with my uncle." With that he slowly returned in the direction of the hospital wing, feeling utterly disappointed. _'I thought I had finally gotten away from the Dursleys, and now they keep asking for Uncle Vernon,'_ he thought in disbelief.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments, here and also on Facebook! See you tomorrow..._


	3. December 3

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**3 December**

"Harry, wait a moment," Rowena called after him. "What do you mean you won't be able to come here together with your uncle?"

Harry stared in the direction from where he heard the voice, fiercely rubbing his temples in a faint attempt to get rid of the headache that seemed to become worse by the hour. "My uncle is a Muggle, Professor, and he absolutely detests magic. He'd never be willing to come to Hogwarts," he replied in a firm voice. His stare turned into a glare upon hearing the Founder chuckle.

"No dear," Rowena finally replied, "no one is talking about your Muggle uncle. This is about your magical uncle, who's a descendant of Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin just like you're the heir of all four of us."

"I'm sorry Professor, but I don't have any magical relatives," Harry stammered in confusion, only to add, "or at least I'm not aware of it." _'If I have a magical uncle, who might it be?'_ he wondered in disbelief.

Rowena let out a long sigh, before she replied, "I'm sorry to hear that my boy. Severus Snape, who is the Potions professor and Head of Slytherin here at Hogwarts, is your uncle from your father's side. Bring him with you, when you come here the next time, and you'll be able to see our painting and receive further instructions."

"Severus Snape?" Harry repeated, horrified. "I'll try to speak with him, but just so you know, Professor Snape seems to hate me with a passion, even if I don't know why. Oh well, I'll try to bring him here."

"Please do so," Rowena said in a soft voice. "It's very important."

HP

Harry slowly returned to the common room, deep in thoughts. _'That's impossible,'_ he thought, incredulously. _'Professor Snape would surely know if he was related to me. Maybe I should just go and ask him.' _He glanced at his wrist watch, realising in shock that it was already after curfew. _'Oh no, I just hope I won't meet anyone now,'_ he thought and ran all the way up to Gryffindor, only to stop dead in his tracks, when a tall person stepped into his way.

"Mr. Potter," the Potions Master sneered, "it's after curfew. Please enlighten me why you deem yourself beyond the rules?" He glared at the boy, quirking an eyebrow at the same time.

"I'm sorry sir," Harry replied, hesitantly adding, "I went to the hospital wing."

The professor held out his hand. "Then I'm certain that Madam Pomfrey gave you a pass. Give it to me."

Harry shook his head. "No sir, I intended to go to the hospital wing, but I only went until I reached the door and then decided otherwise and came back here," he explained in a small voice, averting his eyes to the floor.

"You imbecile," the professor spat, seemingly enraged. "Do you really believe me to be stupid enough to buy your lies? Just like your father. He also was an attention seeking, arrogant brat and thought he was above the rules. Detention with me tomorrow after dinner." That said, the Potions Master strode beyond Harry and vanished in the dark corridor.

_'Ahh, that went well,'_ Harry mused, as he tiredly entered the common room. _'Oh well, maybe I'll have the opportunity to speak with him during the detention.'_

HP

Hermione and Ron were waiting for him in front of the fireplace. "Harry, is everything all right?" Hermione queried immediately. "You were away for quite a time. It's already after curfew."

"Yes, I know," Harry replied, darkly. "On the way back, I met Snape and got detention for tomorrow night."

"Why?..."

"... Madam Pomfrey could have given you a pass," the twins threw in, causing Harry to cast a weak smile in their direction.

"Yes, but I didn't meet her. She wasn't there," he lied, before he said good night and went to bed.

_'Rowena said it was Salazar, who had spoken to me last night,'_ he mused, as he closed the curtains around his bed. _'I hope he won't talk to me tonight. I really just want to sleep.'_ To his relief, his night remained undisturbed.

However, when he woke up in the morning, he still did not feel overly well. _'I hope I won't get sick now. I'll have to attend tonight's detention in any case,'_ he thought, as he followed Ron and Hermione to the first morning class. _'Hopefully, Snape won't single me out again,' _Harry mused, once again wondering why the teacher seemed to hate him so much.

HP

When the Potions Master began to speak, Harry realised, horrified, that the next hour was definitely going to be worse than the previous Potions class.

"Today, all of you are expected to go and see Madam Pomfrey. She's going to check which vaccinations you already received and if there are some, which you still need to get in order to be allowed to attend Hogwarts," Snape explained, sounding bored. "Zabini and Longbottom, you go first."

After the first two students had left, he began a monologue about magical and Muggle potions ingredients and how to distinguish them. Harry was sure that he'd have found the content extremely interesting if the thread of going to the hospital wing wasn't occupying his mind. _'What if she notices that I've never been to a Healer or a doctor before?'_ he mused, _'And what if she notices the bruises and welts on my back? She must believe that I'm a freak.'_

Every five minutes, the Potions Master sent two more students, each time one Slytherin and one Gryffindor, to the hospital wing. All of a sudden, he called out, "Malfoy and Potter."

Like in a trance, Harry followed the Slytherin boy, who suddenly turned around, grinning.

"What's wrong, Potter? Don't tell me you're afraid of needles," he sneered, causing Harry to blush.

"I don't know; I've never been to a Healer or a doctor," he admitted in a small voice, feeling too scared to care to whom he was speaking about the matter.

"Really?" The other boy looked at him in surprise. "Oh well, I know you grew up with Muggles, but in the magical world, all children receive vaccinations for various magical diseases from a small age onwards."

"Dudley did, but the Dursleys never took me," Harry replied, before he remembered to add, "Please keep this to yourself." The thought _'I'm talking to Malfoy'_ suddenly penetrated his mind, and he listened in surprise to the boy's next words.

"Well, that's why Professor Snape sent two of us together, so that one can look out for the other," Draco said in a surprisingly soft voice. "We'll remain together until we're both finished, no matter how many vaccinations she gives you."

Harry scoffed. "Why did he always send one Gryffindor and one Slytherin together?" he enquired, quirking an eyebrow. "He could have sent us together with our friends."

Draco smirked. "He wants to give us a chance to get to know each other," he then explained. "At least that's what he told us in our House meeting last night."

"Oh," Harry said, unintelligently, thinking, _'Oh well, that seems to have worked at least. I didn't think Malfoy could be so nice.'_

HP

To his enormous annoyance, the Healer made a huge fuss, because she had not received any medical card from him; however, her voice softened, when he admitted that he had never been to any kind of Healer before.

"Very well then, I can only give you some vaccinations now, and you'll have to come back in three weeks' time for more," she informed him and pointed her wand at his head. Giving him a sharp look, she said, "Your temperature is slightly elevated. Are you feeling well?"

"Yes," Harry replied, feeling much too excited to even realise that it was a lie.

"All right then," Pomfrey said, thoughtfully. "It's not too high to give you the vaccinations right now, but I'd like to see you again tonight for a small check up."

Harry grudgingly agreed to come by the hospital wing after his detention with Professor Snape and sighed in relief when he was released, noticing in surprise that Draco was indeed waiting for him.

HP

Several hours later, Harry walked to the dungeons with mixed feelings. On the one hand, he dreaded the detention with the Potions Master, on the other hand, he knew that he had to speak with the man, as Salazar and Rowena had instructed him.

_tbc..._

_Thanks to those who were so kind and commented on the previous chapter! See you tomorrow..._


	4. December 4

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**4 December**

Harry hesitantly knocked at the door of the Potions classroom. To his relief, it did not take long before the Potions Master opened the door.

The professor merely acknowledged his presence, before he pointed to one of the sinks, where Harry could see a huge pile of dirty cauldrons. "Clean those without magic," Snape demanded, holding out his hand.

_'What does he want?'_ Harry wondered, looking at the professor, questioningly.

"Potter, what are you waiting for? Give me your wand," Snape finally said, clearly impatiently.

Harry obediently set to work, sensing that it was not a good timing to try speaking with the professor about the Founders' portrait. Cleaning the cauldrons was not a big deal for him. At the Dursleys, he had been cleaning the complete house since the early age of three. However, it took him several hours to thoroughly scrub the dirty cauldrons, and he noticed that besides his head his back had become sore, and he was feeling hot and cold at the same time. _'I hope Madam Pomfrey won't keep me in the hospital wing,'_ he thought, horrified upon realising that he felt just a little bit dizzy.

While he busied himself with his task, he every now and then glanced at the professor, who was sitting behind the teacher's desk grading homework. _'How should I tell him what I need to tell him?'_ he mused over and over. However, by the time he was finished and approached the teacher's desk, the professor shot him such a cold glare that his courage to speak with the older wizard almost left him.

"Professor, there's a portrait of the Founders in the corridor behind the hospital wing..." he hesitantly addressed the man.

However, the Slytherin Head interrupted him, impatiently, before he could even explain what he needed to tell the professor. "Potter, if you believe that I've nothing to do but listening to your ramblings, you're sadly mistaken. Take your wand and return to your common room."

Hurriedly accepting his wand back, Harry fled the classroom and ran all the way through the dungeon corridor, until he reached the entrance hall.

HP

Still trying to catch his breath, Harry hesitantly entered the hospital wing, sighing in relief, when Madam Pomfrey immediately came out of her office and greeted him in a friendly voice. The Healer led him to the bed right next to her office and motioned him to sit down.

"I'm fine, Madame," Harry tried to reassure the Healer, who merely cast him a disbelieving look, taking in his flushed cheeks and the sweat that made his hair stick to his temples. "I'm only a bit hot because I ran all the way up here from the Potions classroom," he explained, causing Pomfrey to gently place her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry Mr. Potter, I'm not going to hurt you. I merely want to cast a few diagnostic spells at you," she said in a soothing voice.

"Okay," Harry mumbled, suddenly unable to resist the urge to lie down on the comfortably looking bed. He let out a small sigh of relief, when his achy head came to lie on the pillow.

This of course did not go unnoticed by the experienced Healer, who just began to wave her wand over him.

"Mr. Potter, you can make yourself comfortable in this bed," she said in a businesslike way, handing him stripy hospital pyjamas. "There are bruises on your back, which have become infected, and they're causing the fever you're running. Please change into the pyjamas and turn onto your stomach, so that I can heal your back."

Ten minutes later, Harry was fast asleep, unaware of the fact that the Healer kindly mended several bones during the night, which had once been broken and improperly healed. She only informed him, when she released him in time for breakfast.

"Mr. Potter, who did that to you?" she asked in a soft voice, causing Harry to look at her in shock.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied, uncertainly.

"About the bruises and welts on your back as well as broken wrists, arms and ankles," the Healer explained, giving him an expectant look. "Was that your uncle?" Unbeknownst to Harry, this was only a rhetoric question, as she had viewed several of the boy's nightmares during the night, in which he had begged his uncle to not hurt him.

"No no," Harry quickly reassured her, looking horrified. "I just often got into fights with my cousin..." He slowly trailed off, realising from the Healer's expression that she did not buy his excuse.

"Well dear, then see to it that you don't get into fights here," she replied, gently. "Now come back in three weeks for more vaccinations. Don't miss them; it's important."

"Yes Madame," Harry promised, smiling at the kind witch. "Thank you so much for healing me."

"You're very welcome, sweetie, and if you ever want to speak about something, come to see me at any time. You know that I'm bond to my Healer's oath and won't talk to anyone about what you tell me."

Harry thanked the Healer profusely and happily left the hospital wing, shyly glancing to the left side corridor, where the Founder's portrait was supposed to be. _'Madam Pomfrey is really nice,'_ he thought, as he made his way to the Great Hall to have breakfast together with his friends. _'Snape seems just the opposite though. I've no idea how I can talk to him.'_

HP

The following days were so exciting with becoming a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, meeting a three-headed dog in a forbidden corridor and attending classes, which Harry found extremely interesting, that he completely forgot about the Founders' instruction. Only a week later, Harry remembered about the matter, when Salazar Slytherin's voice once again penetrated his mind in the middle of the night, causing him to jerk awake.

'Potter,' the voice growled, 'ten days ago, I've asked you to come to see our portrait together with my heir Severus Snape. Are you such a dunderhead that you can't even follow a simple instruction? Now hurry up boy. It's important, and you don't have much time to fulfil the prophecy.'

_'Oh no,'_ Harry thought, inwardly groaning. _'I totally forgot about it. I need to speak with Snape. It's obvious that he's related to Slytherin. They have the same way of ridiculing people.' _He glanced at his alarm clock, seeing that it was three o'clock in the morning. _'I better get up and go to talk to Snape first thing in the morning,'_ he resolved and headed down to the common room, where he opened his Potions book and began to read.

A few hours later, he was so engrossed in his lecture that he did not hear the first students come down to the common room. Only when Hermione let out a gasp at his sight did he look up at his friend.

"Harry, are you ill?" she asked in apparent concern. "Or why are you here so early studying?"

"I couldn't sleep, and I need to do something before breakfast," Harry explained and excused himself in order to head to the dungeons. _'I hope he'll listen to me this time,'_ he thought, as he trailed down the stairs.

He hesitantly knocked at the door of the Potions Master's office, impatiently waiting to be let in. However, the professor did not open the door. Instead, he suddenly approached the boy from the dungeon corridor.

"Mr. Potter, in dire need of another detention?" he sneered, causing Harry's courage to speak with the older wizard vanish instantly.

"I'm sorry to disturb you sir, but I need to speak with you," he replied in a small voice.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments on the previous chapter! More tomorrow..._


	5. December 5

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**5 December**

"I'm not your Head of House. Go and speak with Professor McGonagall," the Potions Master replied, sharply.

"But that's not possible," Harry said, letting out a long sigh. "Professor Slytherin instructed me to tell you..."

"Now Potter, I don't have time to listen to your ramblings," Snape interrupted him, looking furious. "Tell them to the other first-years and leave me in peace. What do you think you know about the Founders? You're just an attention seeking brat like your father." With that the man strode away in a fast pace, leaving Harry alone in front of his office.

_'What now?'_ he thought, terrified. _'I need to go back to the painting and hope that Professor Ravenclaw will speak with me again. Slytherin should mind think to Snape like he does to me, as Snape obviously hates me too much to listen to me.'_ Not feeling hungry in the least after his encounter with the Potions Master, he resolved to go and speak with the Founders right away.

HP

Harry swiftly passed in front of the hospital wing, sighing in relief when he did not meet anyone on the way. He walked through the dusty corridor until he thought that he had to be near the spot, where Rowena Ravenclaw had spoken to him the other day.

"Professor Ravenclaw?" he hesitantly asked in a small voice, so as to not alert anyone else to his presence in the unused corridor.

"Hello Harry," a soft voice answered him. "Rowena's just asleep. I'm Helga Hufflepuff. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I'm sorry to bother you, Professor," Harry replied, feeling very relieved to be able to speak with one of the Founders. "Professors Ravenclaw and Slytherin have instructed me to bring Professor Snape here. But he hates me so much that he doesn't even listen to me."

"Oh my poor boy," the Founder said in a compassionate voice. "I know that Professor Snape is not the easiest person to get along with. However, you must try again. It's important that you come here together."

Harry let out a long sigh. "I'm sorry, but... Could Professor Slytherin perhaps mind think to Professor Snape like he did to me?" he enquired, hesitating.

"I'm sorry sweetie, but that's impossible," Helga replied and explained, "In fact, my husband has already tried to contact him, before he even spoke with you. However, your Potions professor is a Master of Occlumency and always has his mind occluded in a way that Salazar is not able to contact him telepathically. Therefore, it is inevitable that you relay the message to Professor Snape."

"Excuse me Madame," Harry said, thoughtfully, "would it be possible if I asked someone for help? For example one of my friends or Professor McGonagall?"

"No, you mustn't speak about the matter with anyone," a sharp voice threw in, which Harry recognised as that of Salazar Slytherin. "Don't be such a dunderhead. Just tell Snape I need him."

"Yes sir," Harry replied, sighing, and left, noticing horrified that the first morning class was just about to commence.

HP

"Mr. Potter, you're late," Professor McGonagall said, reproachfully, and took five points from Gryffindor, before she continued, "and where have you been at breakfast? You're not allowed to miss any meals."

"Yes Professor, I'm sorry," Harry apologized and quickly slipped into the empty seat between Hermione and Ron.

On that day, he tried in vain to concentrate on his classes. He had a headache and felt tired both due to the lack of sleep, and his mind continued drifting off to the question of how to talk to Professor Snape.

"What's wrong with you mate?" Ron finally asked, when they sat down in the common room to begin with their homework.

"Nothing," Harry replied, looking at his best friend in surprise. _'Oh no, it must really be evident if he even notices and not only Hermione,'_ he thought. _'I really have to get a grip on myself.'_

"It doesn't seem like nothing," Hermione objected in a firm voice. "You're behaving strangely today. Are you ill, or is something else bothering you?"

Harry let out a long sigh, before he whispered, "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you right now. I'll tell you as soon as I can."

To his relief, his friends seemed to grudgingly accept his promise, at least Hermione, who whispered back, "Don't forget that we're your friends and will help you in any way we can."

"Thank you," Harry replied, gratefully. _'Maybe I should write Snape a letter,' _he mused, trying in vain to concentrate on his Transfiguration homework.

As soon as he finished his most urgent homework, he retired to bed, stating that he had not been able to sleep much the previous night. He firmly closed the curtains around his bed and began to compose a letter to the Potions Master.

_'Dear Professor Snape,  
I am sorry to bother you, but I have a message for you. Professor Slytherin told me that we have to fulfil a prophecy together, and for that...'_

"Harry, are you still awake?" Ron's voice suddenly penetrated his ears and he noticed that his friend pulled back the curtain.

Harry hurriedly put parchment and quill away, before he lay down and asked, lazily, "Yes, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, but Hermione told me to make sure that you were all right," the other boy replied, yawning.

"I'm fine," Harry reassured his friend. "Good night Ron."

"Night Harry," Ron replied, already heading to his own bed.

Now feeling too tired to continue writing, Harry merely closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep in a blink.

HP

_'No, I'm not going to write to Snape. He won't bother reading it anyway,'_ he thought, as he entered the Potions classroom together with his friends. _'I'm going to try one last time to speak with him, and if that doesn't work, I'll ask someone for help,'_ he decided.

Of course, it did not work, when Harry once again approached the professor after the class and only had the effect that he earned himself another detention.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind feedback... more tomorrow..._

.


	6. December 6

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**6 December**

Not willing to get up his hopes anymore, Harry entered the Potions classroom the same evening, feeling extremely upset at his current situation.

"Write this sentence five hundred times," the professor instructed him, pointing to a parchment and a quill waiting for Harry on the first bench in the Potions classroom. As soon as Harry sat on the chair behind the desk, the professor retreated to his office.

_'I must not bother my professors with my hallucinations,'_ Harry read what the professor had written in his meticulous hand writing.

He let out a long sigh, before he obediently began to write. After two hours of writing, he still had only written the sentence 345 times, but he was tired, as his last few nights had been disturbed by nightmares about his Muggle uncle. _'Oh well, I won't see him again soon,'_ he mused, as he continued to scribble his sentences.

_'I must not bother my professors with my hallucinations, I must not bother my professors with my hallucinations, 'I must not bother my professors with my hallucinations, but they aren't hallucinations but instructions from the Founders. Salazar Slytherin informed me that you are my uncle and we have to go to the portrait of the Founders together in order to fulfil the prophecy,'_ Harry finally finished his sentences, hoping that Snape would read the last few lines.

He knocked at the door to the professor's office that was slightly ajar and handed the professor the parchments, inwardly groaning, when Snape saw fit to ridicule him for his atrocious hand writing.

HP

"Harry, you're late," Hermione greeted him. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes," Harry replied, yawning, and explained that he had had to write five hundred sentences for the professor.

"I can't even understand why in the world he assigned you that detention," Hermione said in apparent confusion.

Harry sighed and, seeing that everyone else had already retreated to their dormitories, confessed, "I need to speak with Snape about something, but he doesn't even listen to me. He seems to think that I'm an attention seeking brat like my father. At least that's what he says each time when he interrupts me. Sorry Hermione, but I can't tell you what it is about."

"I understand," Hermione said, thoughtfully, "even if I don't like it. Is there anyone with whom you could speak?"

Harry shook his head. "No, they told me not to speak with anyone about it. On the other hand, I'm thinking about talking to Madam Pomfrey. Since she's bond to her Healer's oath, no one will know about it."

"Yes, that's a good idea Harry," Hermione said warmly. "I haven't spoken to her yet, but from what I saw in the Great Hall, she seems very nice."

"She is," Harry confirmed. "All right now, I need to finish my Charms homework, before I can go to bed."

"I'll help you," Hermione promised and more or less dictated Harry his homework, so that they could both retreat to their dormitories thirty minutes later.

HP

Harry once again woke up by the voice of the Founder that penetrated his sleepy mind at five o'clock in the morning.

'If I could speak to Severus Snape, I'd have done so already,' the voice sneered. 'Now get on with it.'

_'Too bad that I can't reply to him,'_ Harry thought, when he scrambled out of bed and got ready for the day. _'I'll go and speak with Madam Pomfrey now. Maybe she can help me,'_ he resolved and trailed down to the hospital wing through the halls that were soothingly empty that early in the morning.

To his relief, the Healer was already up and about, bustling through the hospital wing. She immediately stopped what she had been doing and came over to him. "Good morning Harry," she said in a soft voice. "What can I do for you? Are you ill?"

"Good morning Madame," Harry replied, giving the kind witch a small smile. "I'm not ill, but I'd like to speak with you about something, which I'm not allowed to talk about. Would that be all right?" he asked, shyly.

"Of course sweetie," the Healer replied kindly and motioned him to follow her into her office, where she invited Harry to take a seat on the sofa.

"Excuse me Madame, who is that in the portrait?" Harry enquired, pointing to the portrait that was decorating the wall behind the Healer's desk.

"That is Helga Hufflepuff, one of the Founders of Hogwarts," Pomfrey explained, gently. "She helps me keep an eye on the hospital wing."

Harry let out a long sigh, feverishly thinking what to do. "Sorry Madame, would it be possible to speak with you in private, without anyone listening in, not even a portrait?" he asked, hesitantly.

The Healer chuckled. "Of course my boy, although Helga usually hears everything here," she replied, before she ushered Harry back into the open hospital wing.

They sat down on the only empty bed in the wing, which to Harry's surprise was very crowded on this morning. As soon as the Healer cast a silencing spell around Harry and herself, Harry shortly explained what his problem was.

"It must be related to the prophecy that Professor Trelawney made at the welcoming feast," Pomfrey said, thoughtfully, after hearing the whole story. "As to Professor Snape and your father," she continued, sighing, "your father and he were the worst enemies during their own time at Hogwarts, and from your outer appearance you resemble your father a lot. I personally believe that you have much more in common with your mother. Professor Snape has not realised that yet though. All right dear, I will speak with him, but I can't promise that I'll get around to do so today, since the hospital wing is full with students suffering from the wizard's flu and I'll be very busy today. I'll try to get to him as soon as possible though."

"That's all right," Harry replied in a small voice. "Thank you so much for listening and trying to help me Madame."

"You're very welcome Harry," Pomfrey said, smiling, before she shooed him out of the hospital wing.

_tbc..._

_Yes, I know, poor Harry... and things will still get worse for him before they are going to improve. Thank you for your feedback. My muse highly appreciates it!_


	7. December 7

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**7 December**

During the day, Harry tried to wipe all thoughts about Snape, the Founders and the portrait from his mind; however, his efforts were not very efficient. Unfortunately, it was just in the last afternoon class that he felt his head become sore and had problems concentrating. While he so far had managed to brew all potions flawlessly, during this class, he was absentminded for an instant and stirred his potion in the wrong direction.

"Evanesco," the professor shouted, glaring at the boy. "Do you want to destroy the classroom Potter?" he sneered. "Detention with me after dinner."

"Yes sir," Harry replied, inwardly groaning. _'Today, we have Quidditch practice,'_ he thought, fiercely rubbing his forehead against the headache that had become worse during the class.

"Harry, are you all right?" Hermione queried, giving him a sharp look, when they returned to the common room.

"Yes, just a headache," Harry replied, torn between annoyance and gratefulness towards his observing friend.

"I'm not in the mood of doing homework now," Ron stated and suggested, "Shall we go and visit Hagrid?"

"Um, I need to do my homework," Harry objected, explaining, "Detention tonight."

"Yes, that's better," Hermione concurred, casting a longing glance at her books.

Harry walked over to where the fifth years were working on their assignments and informed Oliver Wood that he could not attend Quidditch practice, before he busied himself with his homework, glad that Hermione kept an eye on him and brought him back to the task at hand, whenever she noticed that he was drifting off in thoughts.

HP

During the evening, Harry felt worse by the hour. While he was cleaning a huge pile of cauldrons, he realised that not only his head but also his throat had become very sore, and he felt too miserable to make another attempt to speak with the teacher.

To his surprise, Snape entered the classroom, when he had only finished half of the pile. "Curfew is going to begin in five minutes," the teacher informed him. "Return to Gryffindor now. You can continue here tomorrow."

Harry gratefully accepted his wand back, thinking, _'Thank Merlin. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.'_

HP

While Harry returned to Gryffindor and went straight to bed, Severus Snape made his way to the Headmaster's office for another discussion about Trelawney's new prophecy that no one was able to understand in any way.

Dumbledore greeted them in the usual way, offering them a lemon drop, which both Minerva and he declined. _'Albus should know better by now,'_ Severus thought in annoyance.

"Minerva, Severus," the Headmaster spoke up in a grave voice. "Does any of you have any news or any idea what to do about the latest prophecy?"

"No Albus," the two Heads of House replied, simultaneously.

"I trust that Harry knows nothing about the prophecy?" Dumbledore queried, looking from Severus to Minerva.

"Albus, how would he know?" Minerva asked, incredulously. "The poor boy didn't even know about magic until two months ago, because you sent them to his atrocious relatives."

"Well but as you see, his relatives seem to play a role in the demise of Voldemort," Albus replied, triumphantly, causing Severus to let out a snort.

"Albus, I can't imagine Petunia and her husband do anything in favour of the magical world," he threw in, sceptically. "Potter has been approaching me a few times rambling about a portrait of the Founders and Salazar Slytherin talking to him. He really is like his father, not only from the outer appearance."

"No Severus, he's not," Minerva objected sharply. "Harry much more resembles Lily, and he's a very shy and polite boy."

"The next time he approaches you hear him out," Albus threw in, pensively. "Maybe his ramblings have something to do with the prophecy, especially if he only tries to speak with you and not with Minerva or anyone else.

"No, so far he has never spoken with me about anything but Transfiguration matters and Quidditch," Minerva confirmed.

Suppressing a snort, Severus merely nodded and said, "Yes sir."

"Very well then," Albus continued, "maybe Severus will be able to retrieve some information from the boy, and if not, we'll have to send him back to the Dursleys at least over the winter holidays."

_'I'm not going to let myself become involved in anything concerning Potter and the prophecy,'_ Severus thought as he returned to the dungeons in his usual swift speed, resolving to for once speak with the boy during his detention the following evening.

HP

Unfortunately, when Harry woke up in the morning, he felt awful. Not only had his headache worsened overnight, but he could barely swallow and felt hot and cold at the same time, and when he got out of his cosy, warm bed, he had to hold on to the night table to fight a sudden bout of dizziness. _'Oh no,'_ he thought, horrified. _'I can't get ill now. I need to keep up with classes, homework and that thing with the Founders.'_ He readied himself for class and slowly dragged himself down to the common room, knowing that Ron had already left for breakfast anyway.

When he reached the common room, he noticed in surprise that Hermione was waiting for him. She cast him a concerned look, and before he could even say good morning, a cold, slender hand found its way to his forehead.

"Harry, you're ill," the girl said, reproachfully. "You should go to the hospital wing."

"No," Harry replied, trying to sound convincing. "I'll be fine."

"Do you still have a headache too?" Hermione asked in a businesslike voice. Seeing Harry nod, she opened her book bag and handed Harry two small pills. "Here, take these along with some water or pumpkin juice. It's a Muggle medicine that works for headaches and fevers."

Harry looked at the girl in surprise; however, seeing her give him an expectant look, he accepted the medicine and hurried to the bathroom to drink some water with it.

"Now let's quickly go and get some breakfast," Hermione instructed him, and the two first-years made their way to the Great Hall.

By the time Harry had gulped down three glasses of pumpkin juice, breakfast was over, and the first-years had to hurry to the greenhouses for their first morning class. Half-way through the class, Harry noticed that he felt considerably better, even if not really well. However, it helped concentrating on the lesson, and he felt extremely grateful towards the girl, who was not only the cleverest girl in the class but also very observing and helpful.

HP

He profusely thanked Hermione, when they walked to the Transfiguration classroom for their second class.

All of a sudden, the Headmaster's voice sounded through the halls. "All first years who are still due to receive vaccinations, please go to the hospital wing right away. Madam Pomfrey will give you a slip for your second morning class teacher."

"Oh no," Harry said, groaning. "I need to go then."

"All right mate, we're going to reserve a seat for you," Ron promised.

"You have to tell her that you took Paracetamol earlier," Hermione remembered to tell him, when he turned around to walk in the other direction.

However, his friend's advice did not enter his mind. He slowly made his way to the hospital wing, glad that Hermione's medicine worked so well. _'Otherwise Pomfrey would surely keep me again,'_ he mused.

_tbc..._

_A huge thanks to the kind readers who reviewed the last chapter. See you tomorrow..._


	8. December 8

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**8 December**

"Again you're running a slight temperature," Pomfrey said, frowning. "Are you feeling all right Harry?"

"Yes Madame," Harry lied, trying to sound as healthy as possible.

"Very well then, but once again I want to see you tonight for a check-up," the Healer informed him.

"After my detention with Professor Snape," Harry replied, sighing in annoyance.

"Oh dear," Pomfrey said, sympathetically. "I'll speak with him later tonight."

HP

It was only after the last afternoon class that Harry noticed that something was terribly wrong. Not only did his earlier symptoms return as the medicine wore off, but he also had difficulties breathing, and by the time he reached the common room, he was gasping for air.

"Harry, you need to go to the hospital wing," Hermione said, urgently. "I'll take you there."

"No," Harry replied in a firm voice. "I have to attend detention first."

"Why Harry? If you're ill, Madam Pomfrey will excuse you from your detention," Ron threw in, giving Harry a disbelieving look.

"I'm going to lie down for a while. Can you please wake me up early enough to be in the dungeons on time?"

His friends agreed and accompanied him to the dormitory. Hermione gently helped him into bed, frowning at the heat he radiated. "Harry, let me quickly check your temperature just to make sure that it's not dangerously high," she said and hurried to the bathroom to fetch a thermometer. She coaxed it into her friend's half open mouth, letting out a gasp when it flared pink after a few seconds. "41.3 Harry, that's too high," she said firmly. "I'm going to fetch Madam Pomfrey."

A few minutes later, Professor McGonagall entered the dormitory. "Harry, Madam Pomfrey is on her way. What exactly is wrong apart from your high fever?"

Harry wearily reached for the professor's cold hand. "Not so bad," he mumbled. "can't miss detention with Snape... need to tell him I'm not my father, but he's my uncle and must listen... have to go to meet Founders together."

McGonagall cast her little lion a worried look. "No Harry, you're delirious. You don't have to do anything, and I'll excuse you from your detention."

"No Pfessor," Harry replied, sounding very upset. "I have to attend detention."

"Mr. Potter, you're not going to attend any detention except for with me for a while," Pomfrey interrupted his ramblings as she approached his bed. "Minerva, I'm going to speak with Severus myself," she said grimly, before she began to wave her wand over Harry.

HP

Thirty minutes later, Harry was tucked into a crispy white bed in the hospital wing, drifting in and out of sleep that was disturbed by nightmares. While his Head of House was sitting on the edge of his bed, gently wiping his flushed face with a cold cloth, Pomfrey knelt in front of the fireplace in her office.

"Severus Snape, come here immediately," she instructed the Potions Master, who came through the Floo an instant later.

"Severus, you have to excuse Harry Potter from detention tonight," she informed him in a firm voice, causing the Potions Master to sneer.

"Leave it to Potter to wriggle himself out of his detention, exactly what his father would have done."

"Severus," Pomfrey admonished him sharply and led him out into the open wing, where she continued in a small voice. "The boy is nothing like his father, and you should have better listened to him when he tried to speak with you since the beginning of the school year. He told me everything."

"What's wrong with him?" the Potions Master queried, staring at the small boy in the first bed in surprise.

"He received his vaccinations in spite of being ill with the wizard's flu and having taken Muggle medicine for it, because he did not want to attract any attention," Pomfrey continued her rant, "and his condition was already weakened by continuous nightmares about the Founders' instructions concerning you and your stubbornness. Just stay here with Minerva for a few minutes and listen to his nightmares."

HP

Severus gave Minerva a questioning look, before he pulled a chair over and observed the child, who seemed to be peacefully asleep. However, as if the boy sensed his presence, he began to thrash around and mumble, "I'm sorry Pfessor Slytherin, can't speak with Snape, can't fulfil prophecy, no please don't hurt me, I'll be good now I promise..."

By now Minerva had woken up the child, who let out a deep sigh and continued to sleep. Severus stood from his chair. "Poppy, does he need any potions?" he queried in a soft voice.

His best friend cast him a reprimanding look. "I believe that the only thing he needs is your attention. In fact, he came here yesterday morning and spoke with me about the whole matter..."

"With you?" Severus threw in, surprised.

"Yes, because he was not supposed to speak about it with anyone but you, but you wouldn't listen, so he asked me for help and told me everything, knowing that I'm bond to my Healer's oath and wouldn't tell anyone about it. I told him that he could come and speak with me at any time, after I kept him one night to heal him from older injuries, which he must have received at his so-called home. I just didn't get around to speak with you yesterday, because the hospital wing was full." She sighed. "He must have caught the wizard's flu, when he came here. Unfortunately, I can't give him any potions for the time being, and he'll have to stay here for at least a week."

"I'm sorry," Severus said slowly. "I should have listened him out."

"Yes," Poppy replied in a stern voice.

"But he's the spitting image of his father..." Severus slowly trailed off, looking over to the first bed, where the child was having another nightmare begging him, Severus, to listen to him for once.

"Severus, it's not too late to make up for it," Poppy said in a small voice. "According to the Founders, you're the boy's uncle who appears in the prophecy."

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for the (few but) kind reviews for yesterday's chapter. See you tomorrow!_


	9. December 9

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**9 December**

When Harry woke up, he still felt miserable, however, better than he had felt ever since he had fallen ill. The hospital wing lay in the dark. Only two torches were lit at the far end of the room. In the faint moonlight, he could make out a shadow of a person sitting on a chair next to his bed. He let out a small sound to let whoever it was know that he was awake.

"Welcome to the world of the living, Mr. Potter," a soft voice talked to him, which Harry could not place at first.

_'Is that Snape?'_ he thought, incredulously. _'That's impossible, so I must be delirious.'_ He tried to bring himself into a sitting position in order to drink some water to ease his sore throat. However, somehow he did not have the energy to sit up, before strong arms suddenly steadied his back.

"Water," Harry whispered, greedily trying to drink from the glass that was pressed against his lips.

"Easy Potter, you don't want to drown yourself," the voice, which Harry now clearly recognised that as the one of the Potions Master, told him. "Only small sips at one time."

"Pfessor Snape?" Harry asked in confusion, after the professor had helped him back into a lying position.

"Yes Mr. Potter, it seems that I have to apologize for not listening you out," the Potions Master replied in the same, soft voice. "Madam Pomfrey told me everything."

"We need to go to the painting of the Founders," Harry croaked. "They told me it's important."

Snape sighed. "Mr. Potter, you're very ill, and for the time being you're not going anywhere."

"But..."

"No Mr. Potter. Unfortunately, Madam Pomfrey can't give you any potions for the time being, since you received your vaccinations on top of having caught the wizard's flu and after taking Muggle medicine. Therefore, you just have to wait it out; so I suggest that you try going back to sleep."

"Kay," Harry mumbled, feeling miserable but also tired enough to follow the advice.

HP

During the following week, Harry drifted in and out of sleep, frequently captured in fevered nightmares mostly revolving about his Muggle uncle or Professor Slytherin. However, he was never alone. There was always someone who woke him up from his nightmares. Snape seemed to keep him company very often, but also Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey stayed with him during the nights, and Harry even had the impression as if he had seen Hermione and Ron at his side.

Harry was already feeling slightly better, when Professor Slytherin spoke to him the next time. 'Boy, what are you waiting for?' he asked, causing Harry to let out a snort.

"As if I could answer that question," he mumbled, annoyed.

"Excuse me?" he heard the Potions Master query, just when Slytherin continued.

'Come to visit our painting today, and we'll try to help you. We're waiting for you.'

"Professor Snape?" Harry asked, now feeling wide awake.

"What's wrong, Mr. Potter? It's four o'clock in the morning," the Potions Master replied, without any malice in his voice.

"Professor Slytherin just contacted me. The Founders want me to come to their portrait as soon as possible. I feel better now, and I'd like to go right away. It's not far anyway. Will you accompany me, sir?"

Snape let out a long sigh, before he replied, "Madam Pomfrey will have my head if she finds out, but all right, if you're sure that you feel well enough to get up for a few minutes, let's go."

HP

Two minutes later, Professor Snape cleaned the dusty corridor with a flick of his wand, and the two wizards found themselves standing in front of a huge painting of the four Founders of Hogwarts. Most of them seemed to be asleep.

"Harry, you did it. Congrats," Rowena was the first to notice the visitors.

"Professor Ravenclaw," Harry greeted the Founder. "This is Professor Snape. I'm sorry that it took me so long to bring him here."

"You ought to be sorry boy," Slytherin growled. "Severus my heir, good to finally get to meet you."

"Professor Ravenclaw, Professor Slytherin," Snape greeted the Founders, slightly inclining his head. "Please accept my apology for the delay. It's my fault, not the boy's. He tried to speak with me on multiple occasions, but I didn't believe him. What do you need us to do?"

Slytherin let out a snort. "We don't need you to do anything. You have to fulfil a prophecy, and we're offering to help," he scoffed, causing Harry to inwardly groan.

_'I hope the other Founders are nicer than him. He's not overly friendly,'_ he thought, looking up, startled, when Helga Hufflepuff suddenly addressed him.

"Harry, you look ill. What's ailing you?"

"Mr. Potter is suffering from potions poisoning on top of the Wizard's flu," Snape explained on his behalf.

Harry threw the Potions Master a grateful glance, before he added, "It's all right already though."

"I don't think so," Helga replied, shaking her head in annoyance. "Don't tell me Madam Pomfrey released you like this."

"No, we just used the opportunity to come here, while she's asleep," Harry replied, hoarsely.

"Oh I understand," Helga said, rolling her eyes. "Well, come through here then for a while. I'll warn you when Madam Pomfrey gets up." With that the painting split in the middle leaving a small corridor.

Harry was glad that Snape strode ahead. On the one hand, he wanted nothing more than to return to bed and lie down, but on the other hand he was excited to see what the Founders wanted from them. He slowly trailed behind the professor with interest and stopped dead in his tracks.

They found themselves in a huge room. _'Almost as large as the Great Hall,'_ Harry thought, looking around with a combination of interest and surprise.

"Make yourselves comfortable and wait a few minutes, dears," Helga once again addressed them from the painting, which was back to its whole, hiding the secret corridor.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments... Well, more tomorrow :D_


	10. December 10

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**10 December**

Harry followed the professor's example and took a seat on one of the comfortable looking sofas, which were arranged around an old, wooden table in the middle of the large hall. The hall was void of any windows; however, it was very bright with light coming through the glass roof. _'How can it be so bright outside although it's so early in the morning?'_ Harry wondered in confusion.

The walls around the hall were completely covered with portraits. Some of the paintings only held one person, in others he could see couples or even more people.

"I believe that the people in these portraits must be the heirs of the Founders," Snape suddenly spoke up, pointing to a painting at the far side. "See, your picture is right next to the one with your parents and myself."

Just when Harry stared at the portrait of himself, the portrait swung back, revealing four people, who were dressed in strange clothes.

"The Founders," Snape whispered and rose from the sofa. "Professors," he said aloud, inclining his head, and Harry quickly followed his example.

The four Founders greeted Severus and Harry and introduced themselves, before Godric Gryffindor explained, "We have called you here to help you with an important task. My wife, Rowena, is a Seer, and she had many visions of Harry's future. Together with our two friends here, we have spent much time discussing the matter and searching for a way to help you."

"You must be more willing to do something by yourselves than during this last month," Salazar Slytherin growled, giving Harry a disgusted look.

"Easy Salazar, be nice to Harry. He's only a first year," Helga lightly reprimanded her husband, before she turned to Godric. "Harry won't be able to travel anywhere today," she told the Headmaster of her own time, giving Harry a sharp look.

Seeing the two young wizards look from Helga to Godric in surprise, Rowena Ravenclaw spoke up. "These paintings are the portraits of our heirs through the ages, and we, as well as our heirs, are able to use them in order to travel to the specific time of each of the paintings. However," she added in a sterner voice, "in spite of the fact that the time travel takes mere seconds, as you just have to go through a door, it affords a huge amount of magic, and you may only do so if you're completely healthy and well rested."

"Moreover," Helga threw in, "you must not travel back on the same day but always have to get a good night's sleep before going back or travelling further into another time."

"Excuse me, Professors," Harry asked, hesitantly, "to which time would we want or need to travel?"

Snape let out a long sigh. "Mr. Potter is not aware of either of the prophecies that have been made about him, nor does he probably know about the Dark Lord or the war that took his parents from this world."

Slytherin scoffed. "Now then it's your task as his uncle to inform him about these matters."

Snape looked at the older Potions Master and slightly shook his head. "Unfortunately, Headmaster Dumbledore deems Harry too small to know about the first prophecy and has thus forbidden us to inform the boy about the burden the magical world is placing upon him."

"Very well then," Godric said in understanding and proceeded to tell a completely shocked Harry about the first prophecy. Before Harry could voice his opinion, he continued, "Don't worry Leo, it won't be so bad. Due to our meddlings and plans, your Divination professor uttered another, new prophecy at the welcoming feast this year, and we believe that it's going to replace the old one."

_"The vanquisher foretold to banish the undead shall unite with his blood. Guided by the celestial presence, Yuletide shall see them united,"_ Snape recited Trelawlney's newest prophecy. "Is it correct to comprehend it in a way that Harry and I must travel back in time to meet the Dark Lord before he becomes active, so that we can try to prevent him from becoming the Dark Lord?" he then queried, quirking an eyebrow at the Founders.

"Exactly," Godric Gryffindor replied, smiling. "In fact, this is one of two possibilities that we came up with, but we're not certain if this will work. However, you still have time to try, and in the worst case we'll inform you early enough of our other plan."

Suddenly, Helga Hufflepuff from the painting of the Founders interrupted their conversation. "Harry, Severus, Madam Pomfrey has just woken up, so you'll have about twenty minutes, before Harry needs to be back in the hospital wing."

"Thank you Professor Hufflepuff," Snape replied, slightly inclining his head, before he turned back to the Founders, who were standing in front of him. "Please allow me one more question," he said, pensively. "When travelling to the past and then back to the future, will we be able to freely choose the date, on which we want to arrive?"

"No my boy," Slytherin answered this time. "You're able to choose the year within the life time of the persons in the portrait that you use; however, you cannot choose the date within the year. For example, if you travel tomorrow, on the tenth of October, you'll arrive at your destiny at the tenth of October in that specific year."

_'Which means that we only have two and a half months until Christmas, and until then we have to fulfil the prophecy,'_ Harry thought on the way back to the hospital wing. He voiced his thoughts to the professor, before he suggested, "Let's speak with Madam Pomfrey about it. She'll surely understand and let me go, so that we can travel to the past right away."

"Your condition has to improve first," Snape replied, thoughtfully. "On the other hand, we really don't have time to lose. There's another problem though."

"What's the problem?" Harry asked in confusion. _'It seems simple though. We just travel to when Voldemort is a first year, then I'll friend him and prevent him from doing evil things.'_

Snape cast him an incredulous look. "Don't you think we'll be missed here if we just vanish from the spot? And in case our mission is unsuccessful, maybe we'll be back in two months' time."

"Hmmm," Harry replied in understanding. _'That's true,'_ he thought. _'Ron and Hermione would surely wonder where I was.'_

"I'm going to speak with the Headmaster," Snape said in determination, just when Madam Pomfrey came to check on Harry. "I'll come back right afterwards."

"No sir, please wait," Harry said, pleadingly. "Madam Pomfrey, we've lots of things to do because of the prophecy. Can you please release me right away, so that I can accompany Professor Snape?"

Pomfrey sighed. "Severus, are you going to take care of Harry?"

The Potions Master turned his eyes to view the Healer, who had been his first real friend apart from Lily Evans, the only love of his life. "Poppy, we might have to time travel, but we're going to remain together in any case, and I'll look after Harry."

"I don't like it," the Healer replied, sighing. "Where exactly are you going to go if I may ask?" she enquired, giving the two young wizards a questioning look.

"To the time when the Dark Lord was a first year," Snape told her and informed his friend of the plan.

"Oh well, good luck for both of you. I hope to see you back soon. At that time, my grandmother Theresa Pomfrey was the Healer at Hogwarts," she added, thoughtfully. "Severus, please take Harry to her and let her check on him. I'd feel much better knowing that you did."

Harry profusely thanked the Healer and hesitantly followed the Potions Master to the Headmaster's office, deep in thoughts.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments! More tomorrow..._


	11. December 11

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**11 December**

"Severus and Harry, how nice of you to pay me a visit on this fine morning," Dumbledore greeted them, offering them a lemon drop.

Seeing Snape decline wearing a disgusted expression, Harry followed the professor's example, before he listened quietly, when the Potions Master filled in the Headmaster about their plan.

When Snape was finished with his explanation, Dumbledore remained pensive for a moment, before he said slowly, "If one goes back in time, be it with a time turner or other means, one should never change the future. Alas, if you succeed with your plan, you're going to greatly change our present time."

"Indeed," the Potions Master agreed, smirking. "However, in this case, a change of the future can only mean a huge amount of less dead people, magical and non magical, during the last twenty years plus in the near future, as the Dark Lord is definitely not gone yet." He glanced at Harry, before he continued, "I believe that Mr. Potter and I both have a valid interest not only in fulfilling the prophecy but also a very personal wish to save at least one very dear person."

"I know my boy, I know," the Headmaster said, gravely, and explained to Harry, "Your mother was Professor Snape's best friend." He remained thoughtful for an instant, before he conceded, "Very well then, I'll write a letter to my younger self and to Headmaster Dippet and explain everything. I suggest that you travel to the year 1938, when Tom Riddle was a first year, although I'm not sure if it will be easy to friend him, as I remember that he never had any friends, let alone in other Houses."

Harry cleared his throat and threw in, "I think that the Sorting Hat will place me into Slytherin this time, and I'll do my best to try becoming friends with him." Realising the disbelieving looks he received from the professors, he explained that the Hat had originally wanted to put him into the snakes' house.

Dumbledore cast the Sorting Hat a questioning look. "Sopho," he called out to the Hat, "since when do you listen to the students' wishes? I believed that you'd sort them where they belong?"

The Hat haughtily fluffed his brim before he straightened himself and replied, "Well, sometimes, I'm just getting bored. Can you imagine sorting stupid first-years for more than one thousand years?"

"That may be, but I expect to do as you've been told by Professor Gryffindor many years ago," the Headmaster instructed the Hat in a stern voice.

#Stupid filthy piece of cloth,# Fawkes remarked, causing Harry to give the bird an amused look.

"As to your classes, Severus," the Headmaster continued, "I'm going to take turns with Poppy teaching your classes until Christmas. I suppose that by then you'll know if your plan worked or you're going to return here to our time. If you don't mind, I suggest that I'm going to tell everyone that you're both going to spend a few weeks abroad and will eventually return to Hogwarts."

The two younger wizards agreed and left the office, announcing that they'd return after one hour to collect the letters to Professor Dippet and Professor Dumbledore's younger self.

HP

Snape motioned Harry to follow him to his office, where he needed to pack some of his belongings and get ready for the trip. "There are still several points, which we have to discuss that don't necessarily involve the Headmaster," he said on their way to the dungeons.

"Professor, shouldn't I go and inform my friends and pack my luggage as well?" Harry asked, timidly.

"No, we're not going to tell anyone anything," Snape decided, "and as to your belongings, I'm going to send my house-elf to fetch them. I won't have you climb all the way up to Gryffindor. Instead you're going to take a rest."

Harry grudgingly agreed, suddenly feeling exhausted. To his surprise, the professor led him into what seemed to be his private quarters, where he made him lie down on a comfortable looking sofa.

"Mr. Potter, don't go to sleep yet. We need to decide on a cover story first. First of all, we must decide on our names and relationship." He let out a sigh, before he continued, "For example, if we remained in the past, which I suppose we're going to do if our plan works out..." He interrupted himself, giving Harry a questioning look.

"Yes sir," the boy confirmed.

"Very well then, after thirty-three years, my younger self is going to come to Hogwarts, and it would be most peculiar if our names matched exactly. Therefore, I'm going to change my first name to Severin."

"Ahh I understand," Harry threw in, thoughtfully. "There's no problem with my name sir, is there?"

"No," Snape replied, smirking. "However, we must decide what relationship we have. It would probably more convincing if we told everyone that we had lived abroad until now, which would make more sense if we had a parent-child relationship instead of that of a distant uncle and nephew. It's up to you though. If you're not ready to behave as if I was your father, I fully understand, especially considering how I treated you during these last few weeks."

"Sir," Harry replied, smiling weakly, "I never had a father, only a horrible uncle. Therefore I'll be fully all right pretending that you're my father." _'He's going to act as if he was my father?'_ he thought in surprise. _'I thought he hated me.'_

"Very well then, you're my son Harry Snape, and I'm Severin," Snape continued, contentedly. "So far we lived in Ireland, where you attended a small wizarding school and I taught Potions. However, the school closed and we decided to come to Hogwarts. Would that be all right with you?"

"Yes sir," Harry replied, feeling very excited but also confused at the thought of travelling sixty-three years into the past, possibly forever.

He looked up in surprise, when Snape suddenly called out, "Cicero," and a strange creature appeared in front of them, bowing deeply.

"Yes Master Severus and Harry Potter, what can Cicero do?" he queried.

"This is my personal elf, Cicero," the Potions Master introduced the house-elf, before he told the elf about the planned travel and enquired, "Cicero, will you be ready to accompany us?"

"Of course Master Severus," Cicero replied without hesitating.

"Very well, thank you Cicero," Snape said, nodding contentedly, before he explained what Harry and he had just agreed about. "Cicero, please fetch Harry's luggage from his dormitory in Gryffindor. We're going to leave in thirty minutes."

HP

While the Potions Master gathered some of his belongings, knowing that - if necessary - he would be able to return to his private quarters in the future at any time, Harry took a short nap. Too soon for his liking, Snape woke him up.

"Are you ready to travel sixty-three years into the past?" he queried, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yes sir," Harry replied, excitedly.

"I've already retrieved the letters and memories from Professor Dumbledore. Therefore, we can leave right away," the Potions Master informed him, when they left his private quarters and headed straight to the portrait of the Founders.

"Professors," Snape addressed the Founders, who seemed to be completely engrossed in a game that looked like Wizard's Chess but was played with four persons. "We're ready to leave. Will you please let us in and tell us how to arrive in the correct year?"

"That's easy," Rowena Ravenclaw informed them, smiling. "You just have to tell the portrait the proper year. Provided that it's during the time the persons in the painting lived, you'll arrive at this day in the year that you requested.

Ignoring the glare that Helga Hufflepuff shot the two young wizards, Snape and Harry profusely thanked her colleague and strode through the passage behind the Founders' portrait, glancing around the hall in order to find the correct painting, which they found right next to that of Severus and Harry's parents.

"Are you ready?" Snape queried, quirking an eyebrow. Hearing Harry's positive reply, he took the boy's hand, and together they told Tom Riddle's portrait, "1938."

_tbc..._

_Thank you for your kind comments. To those complaining about the shortness of the chapters, please remember that it is a daily page story. See you tomorrow!_


	12. December 12

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**12 December**

An instant later, Tom Riddle's portrait swung back, and the two wizards stepped through the opening. To their surprise, they found themselves once more in the hall, which they had just left. _'Strange,'_ Harry thought. _'On the other hand it makes sense.'_ He let out a yawn, suddenly feeling tired.

"Sorry Harry," Snape suddenly spoke up, giving him a sharp look. "I should have carried you through, so it wouldn't have drained your magic, but I didn't think of it until now."

"No problem sir," Harry replied, smiling. "Where are we going to go now?"

Snape gave him an amused look. "First of all, don't forget that I'm your father now, and you shouldn't call me sir or professor except from in class. If you don't feel comfortable calling me father, you may just use my given name, Severin."

"Okay... Dad," Harry replied, smirking.

"Very well," Severin replied, and the edges of his mouth pulled slightly upwards. "Since we're not aware of the password for the Headmaster's office, I suggest that we search for Professor Dumbledore first. I hope that his office is where Professor McGonagall's office was in our time." He pointed his wand at Harry's robes, quickly transfiguring the Gryffindor symbol into the normal Hogwarts crest. "After the Sorting, it'll become adjusted automatically, but until then..."

"Yes, thank you Dad," Harry said, gratefully.

Together the two wizards made their way to the Gryffindor tower, only to realise on the way that it seemed not to be Sunday like in their own time, considering that all of a sudden the halls became crowded as the students hurried from one class to the next.

Severin quickly pulled Harry into a nearby alcove. "Cicero," he called his elf in a small voice, sighing in relief, when the relatively tall elf appeared in a blink.

"Master Severus and Harry, what can Cicero do?" he queried, slightly bowing.

"Try to find out the password to the Headmaster's office," Severin instructed the elf, who disappeared and then again returned an instant later.

"Master Severus, the password is 'Denter collis'," the elf whispered, before he popped away, when Severin thanked him and dismissed him.

HP

Ten minutes later, Severin and Harry hesitantly entered the Headmaster's office, realising in surprise that it looked very similar to what it had been in Professor Dumbledore's time. Only the many glass devices were missing from the desk and the shelves. _'Fawkes is missing too,'_ Harry thought, having taken a great liking to the phoenix. _'He'll probably be in Dumbledore's office.'_

"Good morning, messieurs," Dippet greeted them in a friendly voice that was laced with surprise.

"Professor Dippet," the Potions Master replied and introduced themselves as Severin Snape and Harry Snape. "We are time travellers," he then explained, handing over the letter from Professor Dumbledore.

Dippet motioned them to take seats, before he engrossed himself in his reading. "This is indeed interesting," he spoke up, pensively. "Professor Dumbledore is still in class, but as soon as he will be available, I'll call him and have a look at the memories his older self provided for us."

"Yes please, Professor," Severin said, sounding relieved. "We'd really appreciate your help in this matter."

"Professor Dumbledore of your time suggests that I should occupy you as our Potions Master, while Harry should continue his studies as a first year," Dippet informed them and asked, "Is that agreeable for both of you?"

"Yes sir," Severin and Harry replied, simultaneously.

"Well then I suggest that we get Harry sorted, while we wait for Professor Dumbledore to return from class," Dippet decided and fetched the Sorting Hat from the shelf.

'Ahh, why do I have to sort you again?' Harry heard the Hat groan into his mind.

'Just please do it, and it doesn't have to be Gryffindor this time,' Harry thought back.

'I wouldn't put you there again anyway,' the Hat replied and spoke aloud, "Slytherin."

"Timmy," the Headmaster called out, causing a small house-elf to appear and bow deeply. "Timmy, please gather some of the other elves and provide another bed in the Slytherin first year boys' dormitory for Harry here as well as teacher's quarters with an additional potions lab for Professor Snape here. Also please instruct Tom Riddle..." He interrupted himself to glance at a time table on his desk, "... who should be in the Transfiguration classroom right now, to come to my office immediately."

Harry cast his surrogate father an apprehensive look. _'Now I'm going to meet Tom Riddle for the first time, the future murderer of my parents,'_ he thought with a combination of excitement and fear.

'Don't worry, Harry, he won't do anything to you, and remember you can come to speak with me at any time,' Severin thought to the boy, before he said aloud, "Harry, come to see me after lunch, so that I can show you where my quarters are and take you to Diagon Alley to buy your school supplies. It's soon enough if you attend classes from tomorrow. You know Madam Pomfrey wouldn't have allowed you to go to class in our own time anyway."

"Madam Pomfrey?" Dippet cast the time travellers a surprised look.

"Poppy Pomfrey is the Mediwitch in our time," Severin explained, "Harry was in her clutches until this morning, and she only released him so that he could travel, but he's not completely well yet."

"Perhaps he should go and see our Mediwitch, Theresa Pomfrey. Poppy is a second year Gryffindor student and Theresa's granddaughter," Dippet explained, looking questioningly from Severin to Harry.

"No thank you sir," Harry replied quickly. "I'll be fine."

Just now there was a knock at the door, and Dippet called in Tom Riddle.

"Hello Tom," he greeted the boy and introduced, "These are Professor Snape, our new Potions Master, and his son Harry Snape, who has just been sorted into Slytherin and will be a first year like you. Will you please show Harry around until lunchtime and also take him to class with you tomorrow?"

"Yes Professor," Tom replied and motioned Harry to follow him.

"Harry, I also need to introduce you to Professor Slughorn, your Head of House," Dippet remembered to inform the boy. "We'll do that when you come to the Great Hall for lunch."

HP

"The last morning class is almost over, so it won't make much sense to climb upstairs to the Transfiguration classroom anyway," Tom said thoughtfully. "So I'll show you the Slytherin common room and our dormitory first."

"All right, thank you so much," Harry replied, smiling. _'He seems nice,'_ he thought, feeling slightly surprised at the idea.

Together they headed to the Slytherin common room, and Harry was astonished to see where the entrance was. _'It's not far from Snape's quarters in the future,'_ he thought, _'but I never noticed it. Strange.'_

The dormitory consisted of four beds. "This is your bed, and that's mine," Tom informed him, pointing to the beds near the door. "The others are Cygnus' and Orion's."

Harry let himself sink on his bed and pulled his luggage out of his robe pocket, glad that his surrogate father had cast a shrinking charm at his belongings that could be undone with just a tap of his wand.

"Are you a pureblood?" Tom suddenly asked, giving Harry a sceptical look.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments for the previous chapter and also for my short, little Christmas story! See you tomorrow..._


	13. December 13

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**13 December**

"A what?" Harry returned the question in utmost confusion.

"A pureblood wizard," Tom explained, "means that your parents were both magical."

"Ah yes," Harry replied, inwardly groaning at the topic.

"That's good," Tom said, contentedly. "Cygnus and Orion are purebloods too."

"I don't mind what people are at all," Harry said in a soft voice, hesitantly averting his eyes to the floor. "I only care if they're nice or not, but not if their parents are magical or not." Seeing Tom stare at him in disbelief, he added, "In my old school I had a friend. She was Muggle born, but she was the brightest witch in our year. She knew everything that I didn't know." _'I really miss Hermione,'_ he mused. _'Maybe we could just take Tom with us to the future, so I could have back my friends. On the other hand, maybe we should have come here before Tom entered Hogwarts and heard about this pureblood nonsense. I have to speak with Snape about it.'_

"I care," Tom objected, firmly. "I've read a lot of books about the matter, and most Moodbloods are as stupid as Muggles."

"Muggles aren't stupid," Harry contradicted. "Some are, but others aren't, same as with wizards and witches."

Tom let out a snort. "Have you ever heard of the Founders of Hogwarts?"

"Yes," Harry replied, simply.

"Well, I'm the heir of Salazar Slytherin, and I've heard that he has built a chamber at Hogwarts, where he keeps a monster that's able to kill all the Mudbloods." Seeing that Harry looked at him in apparent horror, he continued, "I just haven't found out where his chamber is, but during the seven years here I'm going to find out."

"How did you get this information?" Harry asked in surprise, having never heard about a chamber of Salazar Slytherin. "I mean, you're only a first-year like myself, and school has only begun six weeks ago."

Tom chuckled. "I love to read. In fact, the Hat wanted to put me into Ravenclaw, but I insisted on being placed into Slytherin. I told Professor Slughorn that I need to do some research for an extra-curricular essay, and he gave me a pass for the restricted section in the library. You can find almost everything there," he explained, causing Harry to nod in understanding.

"I'm the heir of all four Founders, by the way," Harry replied in a quiet voice, causing Tom to stare at him in shock.

"I don't believe you," he finally said, before he hissed in Parseltongue, "You'll ssee, when I finish Hogwartsss, I'm going to be the most powerful wizzard, and Hogwartsss will be mine. I'll make Salazzar Slytherin's wish come true and eliminate all the Mudbloodss."

Harry let out a snort, efficiently hiding how terrified he was, before he asked back, equally in Parseltongue, "Do you really believe that? I'm sure at least Professor Dumbledore will be more powerful than either of uss, plusss I don't think that Professor Slytherin would want to have anyone kicked out of Hogwartsss."

Tom stared at his new classmate. "You understand and speak Parseltongue," he blurted out in obvious surprise.

"Sure," Harry replied, surprised. _'I thought all wizards and witches could speak with snakes,'_ he wondered but knew better than to voice his thoughts.

Tom looked at his wrist watch. "Very well, then we must work together. You can help me find Salazar's rooms", he suggested, adding, "No one will be more powerful than two heirs of Salazar together. It's time to head to the Great Hall for lunch now though. Come on, Harry."

HP

Harry found it strange to sit at the Slytherin table. However, his House mates seemed very nice. _'Tom seems to be more difficult than anyone else,'_ he thought, as he approached his surrogate father as soon as the meal ended.

Professor Dippet introduced Harry to his Head of House and Professor Dumbledore, and Severin and Harry ended up in the Gryffindor Head's office for a conversation with the younger version of their former Headmaster.

Both Snapes denied when Dumbledore offered them lemon drops. "No thank you Albus," Severin replied, rolling his eyes at the already old wizard.

Dumbledore read the letter from his older self and remained quiet for a moment. "Tom is a very nice boy," he finally spoke up. "However, during his six weeks at Hogwarts, he seems to have not made one single friend. He always spends his free time alone in the library. I wish you good luck, Harry."

"Thank you sir," Harry replied, sighing, before he informed the two professors about his earlier conversation with Tom.

"That doesn't sound too promising," Severin was the first to reply, and Dumbledore nodded, thoughtfully.

"Maybe you need to reconsider your plan," he said, absentmindedly popping a lemon drop into his mouth.

"We should give Tom a chance though," Harry suggested. "I've only been together with him for an hour. Perhaps I'll still be able to convince him otherwise." _'At least I've managed to become something like friends with him,' _he thought, feeling contented with himself in spite of worrying how the matter with Tom was going to turn out.

HP

In spite of feeling tired because of the time travel on top of his not complete recovery, Harry thoroughly enjoyed their trip to Diagon Alley. The wizarding shopping area looked slightly different from the one that he had visited with Hagrid ten weeks ago. It was not that there were different shops. In fact, all the shops that he remembered were already there. It was just that the buildings looked much older than in his own time. _'But the atmosphere is the same, and it's fun here,'_ Harry thought, surprised at how nice the professor was in contrary to his first few weeks at Hogwarts.

"Did you get to know any of your classmates yet?" Severin queried, as they sat down for tea at the Leaky Cauldron in order to warm up, since it was unpredictably cold on this day in early October.

"Yes, in our dormitory are two other boys, Cygnus and Orion, and then there were two girls sitting next to me at lunch, Walburga and Lucretia. Tom said all four of them have Black as their surname. Other than that I didn't have the chance to speak with anyone yet."

"Very well." Severin nodded contentedly. "Do you remember Professor McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey and Madam Hooch?" Seeing Harry nod, he explained, "They should all be Gryffindor second years in this time."

"Oh that's cool," Harry replied, excitedly. "I hope I'll get a chance to get to know them. They were really nice in our time."

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments. More tomorrow..._


	14. December 14

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**14 December**

Since Harry was always together with Tom during their free time and was not on the Quidditch team in this time, he did not have any chance to get to know the three second-year girls. He knew that all three of them were Chasers on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but he was not naive enough to believe that he would get away unharmed if he showed up on the Quidditch pitch during the Gryffindor's team practice. _'It doesn't matter that I'm not a member of our House team. The fact that I'm in Slytherin would be enough for them or their teammates to curse me,'_ he thought.

Sometimes, he caught a glimpse at the trio from his House table in the Great Hall, but the Gryffindor table was too far away from the Slytherin table, und it was not as if he could just go over to them and say hello, considering that Minerva, Poppy and Rolanda still didn't know him at all.

HP

At the beginning of December, Harry woke up to Salazar's voice speaking in his mind. 'Boy, you have to hurry up. It's only a few more weeks before the prophecy is due. It can't be so difficult to turn my heir for the better.'

Harry let out a snort. _'Too bad that I'm not able to reply to Salazar,'_ he thought, feeling very upset at the Founder's words. _'I know that it's becoming urgent now, because Christmas will be in three weeks' time, but still I want to give Tom the chance to change. At least he really seems to accept me as his friend by now,'_ he mused, feeling fully awake now.

Unfortunately, Salazar's reminder caused Harry to ponder the matter over and over, even during the nights. When he was able to fall asleep at all, he soon became captured in nightmares about Tom going around with the monster from Salazar's chambers killing all the Muggle borns and halfbloods. One Friday morning, he woke up from an especially bad nightmare, screaming, "Hermioneeee!".

_'Oh no, that was horrible,'_ Harry thought, lying there, shivering violently. _'Thank Merlin for the silencing charm I cast around my bed. I wouldn't be able to explain to my roommates who Hermione was.'_ Still having the images from his nightmare in front of his mind, he stumbled out of his bed and into the bathroom, where he just arrived on time for his stomach to get rid of its contents. Not wanting to go back to bed, he decided to take a shower and get dressed; however, by the time he left the dormitory and headed to the common room, he felt utterly miserable. A few times, he had to hold on to the wall to fight a bout of dizziness, his head hurt, and he noticed that he had problems breathing. _'Oh no, I just hope I won't get sick now,'_ he thought, horrified. _'I really don't have time to be ill.'_

He dragged himself through his classes, realising that he felt worse by the hour. By the time the last morning class was over, he felt bad enough to go and ask his father for a potion. However, when he told Tom to head to the Great Hall alone for that reason, Tom gave him a disappointed look.

"Illness is just weakness. I thought you were better than the others," he said, pointedly turning away from Harry.

"No, it's all right, I'll be fine," Harry quickly assured him and followed Tom to the Great Hall for lunch. He mostly played with his food and only drank three glasses of pumpkin juice, before it was time to head to the first afternoon class. _'Thank Merlin no one here makes a fuss like Hermione and Ron would do in my own time,' _he thought, as he entered the Potions classroom and slipped into the seat next to Tom. _'Snape's classes were better than Slughorn's though,'_ he thought, _'even if he didn't like me and kept breathing into my neck waiting for me to make a mistake. But at least we learned something.'_ Deep in thoughts, he did not notice that the professor entered the classroom and began to speak. Only when Slughorn stepped right in front of him did he look up, startled.

"Mr. Snape, are you feeling all right?" the professor queried in a stern voice.

"Yes sir, I'm sorry sir," Harry replied quickly and did his best to focus on the task ahead. Nevertheless, he had difficulties concentrating due to his worsening headache and came close to blowing up his cauldron. _'Ah, I can't wait for this day to end,'_ he thought, having the impression as if the afternoon classes dragged on infinitely.

HP

Only late at night, when Tom and his other two roommates were finally asleep, Harry scrambled out of bed again and dragged himself to his father's quarters, carefully holding on to the walls since he felt very dizzy.

"Harry," Severin said in surprise as he let the boy into his quarters, taking in the boy's white face with deeply flushed cheeks in concern.

"Sorry to disturb you, sir," Harry mumbled, "but I don't feel so good. May I please have a potion?"

Apparently realising that Harry was unable to keep himself upright much longer, the professor scooped up the boy into his arms and carried him into the room, which the house-elves had prepared for Harry in his quarters. "Harry, stay put for a moment, I'm going to call Madam Pomfrey," he informed the child, before he left the room and headed to the fireplace.

Harry was just about to drift off to sleep, when Madam Pomfrey strode into the room. She was about the same age as her granddaughter had been in Harry's time and was equally friendly. "You caught the Wizard's flu dear," she diagnosed after waving her wand over him twice. "You should have come to me much earlier, before it became so bad," she added in a slightly reprimanding voice, before she turned to Severin and instructed him which potions Harry would need and how often.

During the weekend, Harry remained very ill, drifting in and out of sleep that was disturbed by fevered nightmares. Whenever his mind turned to awareness, either his father or Madam Pomfrey was at his side checking on him and giving him the next dose of potions.

"Severin, I can't understand why his recovery takes so much time," the Healer once said to the Potions Master. "Usually, the Wizard's flu should be gone after a few days at the latest; however, Harry is still far from recovered. Is anything bothering him?"

Severin promised to ask his ward and, when Harry woke up a few hours later, he spoke with the boy, who grudgingly admitted having nightmares every now and then. He also told his surrogate father what Tom had said to him, when he wanted to go and see Severin in order to get a potion in the first place.

"Harry, you should know better than to listen to that boy," the professor said in a soft voice. "Neither should you concern yourself much about Salazar's words. We both know that we don't have much time left, but we'll be able to handle the matter without pressure from outside. Concerning the nightmares," he continued, pensively, "I suggest that you take a dreamless sleep potion tonight and maybe tomorrow. You won't be able to take it more often, as it is highly addictive; however, it's important for your recovery that you get some undisturbed sleep."

"Thank you dad," Harry replied, gratefully. In spite of still feeling miserable, he felt very cared for and was glad to have such an understanding guardian.

HP

Only a week later was Harry finally allowed to go back to class, and when he entered the Transfiguration classroom on Monday morning, he dreaded Tom's reaction to his long absence. However, before Tom was able to harass Harry in any way, something happened that made the two boys forget about the matter.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind reviews! More tomorrow..._


	15. December 15

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**15 December**

On this cold and snowy Monday morning in the middle of December, Harry had a first chance to speak with the Gryffindor trio, even if under not too pleasant circumstances. After the last morning class, Minerva, Rolanda and Poppy walked down the huge staircase right in front of Tom and Harry.

"Look," Tom suddenly whispered, chuckling, as he pointed his wand at the trio making their robes as well as the skirts they were wearing underneath float upwards, so that everyone could see their underwear.

"No, please stop it," Harry whispered back, horrified.

"Why then?" Tom replied, coolly. "One of them is a mudblood and the others are halfbloods. They shouldn't even be allowed to study at Hogwarts, let alone play on the Quidditch team and beat Slytherin."

By then the trio had reached the entrance hall, and before Harry and Tom knew what happened, Minerva had pointed her wand at Tom, who suddenly found himself in the form of a toad.

"Minnie," Poppy said, reproachfully, before she turned to Harry. "Let me give you an advice. Don't be together with Riddle. He's a trouble maker. That's evident already, although he only came to Hogwarts four months ago."

"Exactly," Minerva agreed, nodding. "There are others in Slytherin who might be nicer, although most of them aren't, but he's the worst of all."

Harry let out a long sigh, before he enquired, "Minerva, would you please be willing to transfigure him back, or do I need to take him to Professor Dumbledore or my father?"

"Just leave him in this form. It's most fitting," Rolanda replied, causing Poppy and Harry to shake their heads in annoyance.

"Very well then, I'm going to take him to my father and hope that he won't take points off Gryffindor," Harry decided and picked up the toad, sighing.

"Well, if he does, we're going to complain to Professor Dumbledore and show him the memory of what Riddle did to us," Minerva replied, before the trio turned away and strode towards the Great Hall for lunch.

_'Maybe Snape's already in the Great Hall,'_ Harry thought, pondering what to do. Carefully placing the toad into his robe pocket, he followed the mass of students into the Great Hall, only to realise that the professor was not present at the Head table. He hurriedly left the Great Hall again and ran to Severin's quarters.

"Dad, I urgently need to speak with you for a minute," he addressed the professor, who gave him a surprised look as he opened the door.

"What's wrong son?" Severin queried, quirking an eyebrow. "Are you feeling worse again?"

"No, I'm fine," Harry replied, before he pulled out the toad and explained, "Minerva transfigured Tom into a toad. Can you please change him back, sir?"

Severus complied, and Tom thanked the professor profusely.

"You're welcome," Severin replied, smirking. "Now I believe you should hurry to the Great Hall; otherwise you'll miss lunch," he instructed the boys.

"Are you not going to have lunch, sir?" Harry asked in surprise, knowing that Snape used to be present at the meals. The thought _'During the last week, he always stayed at home with me though'_ crossed his mind as soon as the question had left his mouth.

"No Harry, since I'm here as a Potions Master and not as a teacher, I'm not obliged to attend meals," Severin explained. "I'll see you at dinner though."

'Harry, tonight I wish to see the memory,_'_ Severin telepathically informed his surrogate son, when the two boys left his quarters. 'Minerva would never transfigure anyone without a valid reason.'

Harry unobtrusively nodded, glancing back at the professor. _'I need to show him what Tom said about the three,'_ he thought. _'I wonder if it's still possible to change him at all.'_

"Harry, let's go to the library," Tom suddenly spoke up. "I want to research a dark spell to get revenge. I won't let a halfblood transfigure me into a toad with no consequences. We can get something to eat in the kitchen later on."

Ignoring the annoying little voice at the back of his mind that instructed him to obey to his father and head to the Great Hall, Harry grudgingly agreed and followed Tom into the library. However, to his great relief, he was not allowed into the restricted section, since he did not have a slip from Professor Slughorn.

"I'm going to go to the Great Hall then," Harry whispered to his friend. "I'll see you in the first afternoon class."

"The first is History of Magic, and I'm going to skip that," Tom informed him. "When you go to the Great Hall, seek out Professor Slughorn and tell him that you want to help me with my extra-curricular research. I'm sure he'll give you a pass for the restricted section."

"All right," Harry promised, inwardly groaning at the other boy's ideas. _'I'm not as stupid as you might believe, Tom,'_ he thought to himself, as he entered the Great Hall with no intention to speak with Professor Slughorn.

After lunch, he decided to skip History of Magic as well and once again headed to his father's rooms. Casting his surrogate father a grateful look, when he ushered him into the living room, he let himself sink into a comfortable chair, letting out a long sigh.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Severin queried, casting him a concerned look. "Are you feeling worse again?"

"A bit," Harry admitted truthfully. In fact, he had still not been feeling all too well the whole day. "It's not bad though. More than that I'm having problems with Tom, sir. I think I can't continue being his friend and trying to change him. It's much too late," he blurted out, before he gratefully accepted the phial that the professor held out for him. "We only have a week left until Christmas, and I really don't know what I could do that would make him change his mind and attitude. Perhaps it would be easier if we went to a time when he was younger? Sorry Dad, but I really don't know what to do anymore."

Severin observed Harry in concern, understanding that the pressure, under which Harry found himself, did not help to improve his poor health condition.

_tbc..._

_Thanks to the kind readers who reviewed the last chapter! See you tomorrow..._


	16. December 16

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**16 December**

Severin made himself comfortable in his favourite arm chair, opposite of Harry, before he asked, "May I watch what happened?"

"Of course sir," Harry replied and, already knowing the process, stared straight into the professor's onyx eyes.

HP

Severin let out a long sigh, when he finished the Legilimens spell. "Harry, I suggest that we go and speak with Professors Dumbledore and Dippet. I believe that it's too late to change Tom. We should go further back in time to when he's younger."

"I think so too," Harry said, thoughtfully. "During these ten weeks, he said something about Halfbloods and Mudbloods on a daily basis and has been casting spells like this morning every other day. He already has so strong ideas about purebloods and whatever..."

"Do you know that he's only a halfblood himself?" Severin asked in amusement, causing Harry to stare at the older wizard in disbelief.

"But..." Harry stammered, trailing off at the sight of Severin's grin. "Are you sure, sir?"

"Yes Harry, I'm one hundred percent certain," the professor reassured him, as he ushered Harry out of his private quarters, stating that they'd just have time enough to speak with the professors before dinner.

Both wizards remained quiet on their way to the Headmaster's office, deeply engrossed in their own thoughts.

_'Maybe we could just fetch a smaller Tom and take him with us to the future,'_ Harry thought. _'That would greatly change the future though. If he didn't become Voldemort, he wouldn't kill my parents. I'd love that. I don't care that Dumbledore in our own time said that we shouldn't overly change the future.'_

HP

He voiced his thoughts towards Severin, while Professors Dippet and Dumbledore were watching Harry's memory in the Pensieve.

"Yes, we should do that," Severin agreed. "However, what are we going to do with him during class time, provided that we'll be alive at all in the future, considering that we'd make enormous changes to the timeline?"

Harry remained thoughtful for a moment, before he suggested, "I could take him with me to classes, or maybe if my parents are alive in the future, perhaps my Mum could look after him."

The two older professors immediately agreed with their suggested change of plan.

"When I visited him in the orphanage to give him his Hogwarts letter ten months ago, he already thought that he was better than everyone else, because he could do things that the others couldn't," Dumbledore explained in a grave voice.

"I believe it would be wise if Severin and Harry took Tom with them as a baby," Dippet spoke up, pensively, causing Dumbledore to nod pleasantly.

"Yes my boys, that'll be the best," he concurred.

Severin and Harry exchanged a glance, before they both agreed. "Where and in what year should we pick him up?" Severin queried, looking at the older wizards in expectation.

Dumbledore pulled a large book out of the shelf. A minute later, he had found what he was looking for and informed them, "Tom was born on the 31st of December, 1926. His mother died at his birth, so I assume that he was taken to the orphanage soon afterwards. I'll go with you."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible," Severin replied, smirking. "Only Harry and I are able to use this method of time travel, and the earliest date, on which we'd be able to arrive after his birth, would be the seventeenth of December, 1927." _'Respectively the eighteenth if we stay here for another night,'_ he added for himself.

The three professors spent another hour discussing the details, while Harry sat there listening quietly. He felt utter relieved that he did not have to make any further efforts befriending eleven-year old Tom and trying to turn him to a better person. Finally, Severin and Harry profusely thanked the two professors for their help.

"Please allow us to remain one more night in our quarters, so that Harry will be able to get a good night's rest before travelling. The time travel is magically exhausting," Severin explained, nodding contentedly when the professors agreed immediately.

Severin and Harry attended dinner in the Great Hall, and Harry told his classmates that he had to visit his father in the evening.

The two wizards spent a while discussing Tom Riddle as a first year, as an adult in their old time and as a baby, before Severin insisted that Harry had to go to bed. "Tomorrow is going to be an exhausting day, and since you're just barely recovered from the Wizard's flu, you still need a lot of rest," he said in a voice of which Harry knew that it did not allow anything but obedience.

"Yes sir," Harry replied in agreement, knowing that he had to be fit in the morning.

During the night, Cicero packed their belongings, and after a quick breakfast in their quarters, the two Snapes headed straight to the Founders' portrait.

They hurriedly informed the Founders of their new plan and stepped through Tom's portrait into the time, when he had still been a baby.

_'I hope this will work out,'_ Harry mused. _'At least we'll be able to return to our own time, where Ron and Hermione can help me look after him.'_

HP

"How are we going to get to the orphanage, sir?" he asked, when he walked towards the Apparition border, almost running in order to keep up with the professor's fast pace.

"We're going to apparate," Severin replied, smirking. "Professor Dumbledore showed me his memory of the orphanage, so I hope I'll manage to apparate us there."

"Oh that's good," Harry replied, knowing that they still had to return to Hogwarts and travel back to the future the same day.

"Are you relieved that we're going to go back to our own time?" the professor enquired, giving him a sharp look.

"On the one hand yes," Harry replied, slowly. "On the other hand, I'd have wanted to get to know my parents, even if it would have taken another thirty years or such for them to come to Hogwarts as students."

Snape let out a long sigh. "Maybe you're going to get to know your parents in the future," he said, smirking.

By now they had reached the Hogwarts gates, and the professor motioned for Harry to grip his right arm. "Are you ready?" he queried and, seeing the boy nod, apparated away.

HP

An instant later, they found themselves in front of a large, shabby building. _'St. Mary in_

_the fields,'_ was written at the front in old letters, from which the colour was peeling off.

_'So this is where Tom grew up,'_ Harry mused as he trailed behind the professor who

sharply knocked at the entrance door.

"Good afternoon Madame," Snape greeted the lady, who opened the door for them. "We have the information that a boy named Tom Marvolo Riddle lives here; is that correct?" he queried, giving the woman an expectant look.

"This information's correct, sir, but who are you?" the lady enquired gently.

Snape lightly inclined his head. "I apologize for my impoliteness, Madame. I am Professor Severin Snape and this is my son Harry. We're related to Tom through his mother's side. Only recently, we heard of his mother's death, and that's why we came to see him," he then explained, carefully. "We'd like to take him with us, so that I can adopt him and raise him as a member of my family."

"This is good news," the lady replied, thoughtfully. "It's a bit strange though, as we were told that he did not have any other living relatives, and as you can imagine, we use to do a thorough research before accepting a baby into our home." She looked uncertainly from Severus to Harry, before she finally motioned them to follow her into her office.

"I'm Mrs. Miller," she introduced herself, "the Headmistress of the orphanage." She handed Severin the adoption papers with the instruction to fill in the data and show her his passport or any other identification card as well as some proof of his relationship to Tom Riddle.

_'Oh no, I hope we'll be able to take Tom with us at all,'_ Harry mused, as he quietly observed how the professor scribbled his name and some address at Spinner's end into the paper, wondering if the address did really exist.

_tbc..._

_Thanks to the kind readers who reviewed! Meet Baby Tom tomorrow? ;-)_


	17. December 17

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**17 December**

Harry was pulled out of his musings, when Mrs. Miller turned away from them in order to look for Tom's papers in a shelf. Severin chose that instant to unobtrusively pull his wand and wave it at the Muggle woman, casting a silent spell, before he let the adoption papers sink into the pocket of his jacket, into which he had transfigured his robes earlier.

When Mrs. Miller turned around, wearing a slightly confused expression, she merely handed Severin Tom's papers and said friendly, "Very well then, let's fetch the boy."

HP

In complete amazement at the professor's achievement, Harry followed the Headmistress and his guardian up an old, wooden staircase.

"The nursery is on the fifth floor," Mrs. Miller informed them and led them through a small corridor to one out of two doors on that floor. "This is our nursery," she explained, motioning the Snapes to enter.

Harry stepped into the room with excitement, eagerly looking around. The room was equipped with old, wooden furniture, a wardrobe, a changing table and a crib. In the middle of the room was a playpen, in which the baby was lying looking at a baby book.

_'Tom seems to be the only baby here,'_ he thought in surprise, unaware of the fact that he voiced his thought.

"Yes, he was the only baby here, such a sad case," the headmistress confirmed, pointing to an open door at the side of the room. "This door leads to the play group. It mostly consists of three and four-year-olds, who sometimes come over to play with him or entertain him. "It'll be much better for him to go with you though." She smiled at Tom. "Tom your uncle and cousin came to take you with them and adopt you. You're going to live in a family my boy," she told him, before she took him out of the playpen and handed him to Harry.

"Dada?" Tom queried, small fingers happily reaching for Harry's glasses.

"No Tom, I'm Harry," the boy replied, smiling. "This is your Dada," he added, pointing to the professor. _'He's so cute,'_ he thought. _'I hope that I'll be able to help raising him in the future, however the future is going to be.'_

HP

Ten minutes later, the Snapes already found themselves walking back from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts. "Excuse me sir," Harry hesitantly spoke up, carefully carrying the baby in his arm, "what was the spell that you cast at her earlier?"

The professor smirked. "That was a spell that made her forget everything about us except from the fact that she was going to hand Tom to us to take him with us," he explained, patiently.

"Cool," Harry replied, before he cooed at the baby. "Look Tom, this is Hogwarts. It's going to be your new home now."

The baby let out a happy squeal, almost as if he had understood the meaning. He laughed at Harry and tried to grab Harry's glasses with his small hands.

"No Tom, leave it," Harry lightly reprimanded the baby that snuggled even deeper into his warm robes.

HP

Severin cast notice-me-not spells at the two boys and himself, before they quickly returned to the portrait of the Founders.

"Excuse me Professors," Severin addressed the Founders, "we just came back here together with Baby Tom. Would you mind us spending a few hours in the hall behind the portrait before we continue travelling to the future? Harry has just only recovered from an illness and needs some rest before time travelling again."

"Of course we don't mind," Helga was the first to reply in a gentle voice. "On the contrary, if Harry is not completely well yet, he needs at least a few hours of sleep, before you may continue your travel."

"Feel free to equip the room according to your needs," Rowena threw in, smiling at the three wizards. "You did a brilliant job by the way, congratulations Harry and Severus."

"Thank you Professors," Harry replied, returning the smile. Only when they reached the hall behind the portrait, he turned to Severin. "Dad, I'm all right now. Wouldn't it be better to take Tom home as soon as possible?"

His guardian swiftly placed a cold hand on Harry's forehead and cast him a stern look. "Harry, as soon as we're going to have the opportunity to do so, we need to discuss your upbringing with your relatives. You're clearly not fine, and your condition is much more important than the need to take Tom home as soon as possible. I don't know how much we're going to change the future, but in case you end up with your horrid relatives again, I promise you now that I'm going to take you away from them and become your guardian right away - Provided that's what you want," he added as an afterthought.

"Thank you so much, sir. That would be great," Harry replied, gratefully.

Severin pulled his wand and transfigured the nearby sofa into a comfortable looking bed, before he carefully pried Tom away from Harry's robes, causing the small boy to begin to wail at the loss of body heat.

Severin quickly waved his wand over Harry, changing his attire into warm pyjamas. "Now Harry lie down and try to sleep for a few hours. I'll wake you up later on." To Tom he cooed, "It's all right Tommy, let Harry lie down first and then you'll be able to cuddle again."

"Come sweetie," Harry cooed, carefully taking the baby into his arm.

However, in spite of Harry's efforts to calm down the baby, the small boy continued wailing, causing Harry and the professor to exchange an exasperated look.

_tbc..._

_Again a huge thanks to the kind reviewers! See you tomorrow!_


	18. December 18

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**18 December**

"Maybe he's hungry?" Harry suggested, giving the baby a worried look.

"Let's see," Severin agreed and called his house-elf. "Cicero, can you bring us some baby food please?"

"Yes Master Severus," Cicero confirmed and popped away, only to return an instant later with a small bowl of a mashed carrot and apple mix as well as a small spoon.

Harry sat up and placed the small boy on his lap. "Let's see if you're hungry," he cooed, pressing a spoonful of the baby food against Tom's lips.

However, the baby turned his head away and refused to take as much as one spoonful. Instead, he continued wailing.

"Oh no, I think it's something else," Harry finally realised, as a faint smell penetrated his nose. "Do you have an idea how to change a nappy, sir?"

The professor cast him an amused look. "Maybe we should have thought of such things earlier and taken a nursing course with Madam Pomfrey," he replied, smirking, before he once again called Cicero and asked for a nappy and something to clean up the baby.

Harry put the baby in the middle of the bed and, casting a helpless look at the older wizard, hesitantly opened Tom's clothes including the white cloth that was wrapped around his bum. With a flick of his wand, Severin banished the dirty cloth along with his Muggle clothes. With another wand waving, he cleaned up the child, before he motioned Harry to apply the modern nappy that Cicero had brought.

_'How do I do that?'_ Harry wondered, again giving the professor a questioning look, only to receive a smirk in response.

A few minutes later, the two wizards had efficiently managed to dress the child into a freshly conjured green jumpsuit with yellow ducks that let out the occasional quack quack. Tom laughed happily, following the ducks' movements over the green back with a small finger.

"Now Tommy, shall we see if you can eat something now?" Harry cooed, gently tickling small feet.

Tom nodded, giggling happily.

"Harry, we should eat something as well," Severin threw in and instructed Cicero to bring a small plate with sandwiches along with some pumpkin juice for the two of them.

Not feeling overly hungry, Harry merely took a few bites and otherwise concentrated on feeding Tom his carrot and apple mash. The baby happily munched his food; however, to Harry, who felt extremely tired and just wanted to sleep for a while, it seemed to take ages before Tom had finished his meal and they could lie down again.

Suddenly, a thought crossed Harry's mind. _'He needs a cuddly toy like the teddy that Dudley had,'_ he remembered and stared at the spare nappy that Cicero had provided them with, wishing it to become a stuffed teddy bear. An instant later, he pressed the light blue teddy into Tom's arm, receiving a happy squeal in return. _'Thank Merlin for wish magic,'_ he thought in relief. _'Otherwise, I'd have had to ask Snape to transfigure it for him.'_

"That's your teddy," he informed the child as he lay down again. "If you press the belly, its colour will change."

With a huge smile on the small face, Baby Tom cuddled close to Harry, the stuffed teddy firmly tucked under his left arm and the thumb of his right hand slid into his mouth. Within an instant, the baby's breathing evened out.

"Thank Merlin," Harry said, grinning at the professor. "He's so cute, but since I've no idea how to care for such a small child..." He trailed off, letting out a huge yawn.

"Indeed," Severin replied, smirking. "Now try to sleep for a few hours. I'll wake you up early enough so that we'll arrive in the future during the late afternoon."

"All right," Harry replied, and while the professor made himself comfortable on the other sofa with a Potions journal, he closed his eyes in exhaustion, drifting off to sleep in the blink of an eye.

HP

Harry and Tom peacefully slept next to each other until Severin woke them up a few hours later.

"Harry, are you feeling well enough and ready to travel back to the future?" Severin queried, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yes sir, provided that you transfigure my pyjamas back into proper attire," Harry replied, smirking.

"Ah and I thought you wanted to return to the future in your pyjamas," the older wizard teased him, chuckling, as he waved his wand over the boy.

"Thank you sir," Harry said, gratefully, "for everything, for travelling with me and... just for everything."

"You're welcome Harry," Severin replied, sincerely, and changed the room back into its original state.

Harry took Tom, who was cuddling his teddy close, in his arms, before he gave Severin a firm nod. "I'm ready sir."

Together, they stepped in front of the painting of Harry, exchanging an apprehensive look.

"Dad," Harry asked, quietly, "will everything be all right? Will we be all right?"

The professor let out a long sigh, before he replied in a soft voice, "We can only hope that we did not change anything for the worse. Remember to not openly call me Dad in the future."

_'Oh right,'_ Harry remembered. _'I just hope Snape isn't going to be as mean to me as he was before our time travel.'_

"Are you ready?" Snape queried, reaching out for the baby. "Let me take Tom now, as the time travel affords enough magic for you to travel by yourself let alone take another person with you."

Telling the portrait they wanted to travel into the year 1991, they both stepped through into the Founders' hall. However, to their surprise, the hall was not deserted as usual. Instead, a woman and a little girl, both of which Harry had never seen before, were standing right in front of them, and the two time travellers found themselves at wand point.

"What..." Harry stammered, before the woman's whispered spell hit him squarely in the chest. At the same time, he noticed that his whole body began to hurt.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind reviews! More tomorrow..._


	19. December 19

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**19 December**

The professor looked from the woman to him, eyeing him in concern. "Here Harry, drink this," he instructed him, holding out a small phial.

Harry gratefully gulped down the potion, feeling better instantly. He profusely thanked the professor as he handed back the phial. _'What was that for a spell? Everything hurt all of a sudden,'_ he mused. _'Who are they anyway?'_ he wondered, just when the professor spoke up, sounding surprised.

"Lily," he asked in apparent disbelief, "is that really you?"

At that instant, the little girl chose to cling to Harry, whispering, "Hawwy, I missed you."

"Yes Sev, it's me, and this is our daughter Holly," the woman replied, smiling. She turned to Harry, pulling him into a bear hug, before she took the baby from Severus that let out a few anxious sounds. "Harry sweetie, you probably don't remember me at all," she said in a soft voice, "I'm your Mum." Looking down at the baby in her arm, she cooed, "Hello Tom, I'm your mummy now. I'm so happy to have you here."

Tom gave her a toothy smile and babbled, "Ma-ma."

"So it's true," Harry spoke up, questioningly. "We completely changed the future."

"Apprently so," Lily replied, smiling, "and from all that I've heard from Professor Dumbledore and the Founders, obviously for the better."

"Definitely," Severus agreed, "seeing that you're alive and seemed to have married me instead of Potter. Would you care to explain what spell you put us under please?"

Lily sighed. "I cast a charm at both of you that will see to it that you receive your memories about this new timeline when you sleep and not at any other times. According to Rowena and Helga, you're going to get a huge amount of new memories, and it wouldn't do you good if you were forced to watch a new memory in the middle of a class."

"That's correct. Thank you," Severus replied, glancing at Harry. "You're much taller than you were before, and you have my hair. Fortunately, you still have your mother's eyes though."

"Is that why it hurt earlier?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Exactly," Severus confirmed. "Your body stretched a lot. Well, shall we return home?" he suggested, giving his wife a questioning look.

"Yes, let's do that," Lily agreed immediately and led them through the corridor behind the Founders' portrait to their own quarters.

HP

When they entered the Snapes' quarters, Harry looked around with interest; however, he did not have much time to explore his surroundings, because Lily ushered everyone into the small kitchen. "Let's have lunch," she suggested, "and then, Harry and Sev, you're both going to take a long nap."

_'In order to get the new memories of this timeline,'_ Harry thought, yawning. "Mum," he spoke up, looking at his mother. "Can you please tell us the most important things that we need to know right away?"

Lily exchanged a glance with Severus, before she replied, thoughtfully, "Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey insisted that you both must get your memories on your own accord."

"That's understandable," Severus threw in, calmly. "However, I don't think it matters if you just answer a few of our most pressing questions. I believe that I can promise that we're both going to get some sleep afterwards."

"Daddy 'n Hawwy, do you wememba me?" Holly spoke up, a panicked expression on her face.

"Of course we remember you, sweetie," Harry lied, smiling at his small sister. _'She must be about two years old,'_ he thought, resolving to ask his mother later on in private.

"Fank Mewlin," the girl said in apparent relief. "Do you wememba Awex?"

Harry and Severus both looked questioningly at Lily, causing her to sigh and explain, "Alexander is Harry's, Holly's and Tom's six-year-old brother. He's over at the Longbottoms' playing with Felix, his best friend."

_'So Neville has a brother in this timeline, that's awesome,'_ Harry thought, while his father informed his mother what had happened to the Longbottoms in their old timeline.

"Oh Merlin," Lily blurted out, clearly shocked at the revelation. "In this timeline, the Longbottoms are our best friends, and they're the godparents of our children as we are those of theirs. They also have a little one, Nina. She's eighteen months old, so just between Holly and Tom."

"Mum," Harry suddenly asked, excitedly, "In which House am I?"

"In Gwyffindow and Slydewin bot," Holly replied, while Lily cleaned Tom's face after feeding him a small bowl of mashed carrots.

"Since when is that possible?" Severus queried in apparent surprise, quirking an eyebrow.

"It's not," Lily replied, smirking. "In fact, Harry's the only student in the history of Hogwarts, who has been placed in two Houses."

_'Leave it to me to be different from everyone else... again,'_ Harry thought, before a sudden idea crossed his mind. "That means that I can't play on any House team, right?" he asked, feeling extremely disappointed.

"No sweetie, on the contrary," Lily informed him. "You're playing Seeker on both House teams, only in the match Slytherin versus Gryffindor Neville plays for Gryffindor and Blaise for Slytherin."

"He's in the Quidditch team in spite of being a first year?" Severus threw in, questioningly.

"There's no rule against it," Lily replied, giving her husband a surprised look.

"All right then, one last question," Severus spoke up, pensively. "What are you and I doing at Hogwarts?"

Everyone laughed at his excited expression, before Lily replied, "You're the Potions professor, Potions Master, Head of Slytherin and Deputy Headmaster, and I'm the Charms professor and Head of Gryffindor."

"Deputy Headmaster?" Severus enquired in apparent shock. "What happened to Minerva?"

"Gwanny Mina's de Headmistwess," Holly was the first to reply.

"Oh that's great, but in that case, what happened to Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked in surprise.

"He's the Minister of Magic," Lily informed him, only to add, "the best Minister we ever had."

"That I believe immediately," Severus replied, smirking.

"I'm sure he's going to visit soon," Lily said, chuckling. "He was speaking about awarding the Order of Merlin to the two of you."

"Noo," Harry and Severus shouted, simultaneously, glaring at Lily in apparent exasperation.

"Very well then, let's get Holly's and Tom's nappies changed, and then all of you are going to take a nap," Lily said, resolutely, rising from her chair.

Harry followed his mother out of the kitchen in order to help her with his small siblings, just when the fireplace flared and Professor McGonagall stepped out. At the first glance, Harry realised that she had to be in a very bad mood.

"Lily," she spoke up, before she noticed Harry and Severus and greeted the time travellers. "Welcome back, Harry and Severus, and thank you so much for all you have done for us," she said, smiling fondly at the two younger wizards.

"Hello Professor," Harry replied, returning the smile.

"Awww, is that Tom? Oh my is he a cutie," McGonagall cooed, gently caressing the baby's small cheeks. "Now the reason for my visit," she said in a sterner voice, turning back to Lily, "is Alex. He and Felix are going to be in detention with Hagrid for the rest of the day."

"Oh no," Lily replied, groaning. "Whatever they have done now, I'm sorry Minerva." She glanced at her husband and explained, "Those two are worse than the Weasley twins, if you know what I mean."

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments! More tomorrow..._


	20. December 20

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**20 December**

Severus quirked an eyebrow at the Headmistress. "Minerva, would you please enlighten us what the boys have done to receive detention with Hagrid?"

McGonagall let out a long sigh. "They seemed to have spent the whole morning casting a spell at each single painting in the castle to change all of the paintings to a Christmas-like atmosphere. All of the paintings have snow, Christmas trees, Father Christmas and lots of presents in them, and the inhabitants of the paintings are complaining loudly because it's too cold for them."

_'They should at least have transfigured winter clothes for everyone,'_ Harry thought, unable to hide a grin at the thought of the prank that his six-year-old brother seemed to have played.

"Minerva, how would two six-year-olds be able to play such a prank at the whole school?" Severus queried, unconvinced.

Lily let out a long sigh. "Alex is capable of wish magic like Harry," she explained, "and Felix probably stole Neville's wand like he often does. Neville just doesn't pay attention and leaves it lying around somewhere."

"But how do six-year-olds know such a spell?" Harry wondered aloud. "Even with eleven years, I have no clue how to do such a thing."

"I suppose that they asked some of the older students," McGonagall said, shaking her head in annoyance. "Anyway, Hagrid is now trying to reverse the spell, which unfortunately seems to not work in one go but has to be reversed for each painting separately."

"Hagrid is allowed to do magic in this time," Harry realised, happily, glancing at Severus. "They haven't snapped his wand."

"Hagrid is our caretaker," McGonagall replied, smiling. "He also teaches a few classes at the primary school." With that she excused herself, leaving Harry and Severus with more questions.

HP

Harry and his father spent the rest of the weekend sleeping. However, it was not a refreshing sleep. Instead, it was full of dreams about the new timeline. While Severus watched scenes of his own time at Hogwarts together with Lily, their wedding and the birth of their three children, Harry received many happy memories of his time at the Hogwarts primary school together with his best friends Neville, Blaise, Draco, Susan and a few others, whom he did not remember from the old timeline. _'Probably children of people, who were killed by Voldemort, before their children were born,'_ he thought, when his mind turned back to awareness. _'Thank Merlin Dad and I did the right thing,'_ he thought, happily grinning when his small sister bustled into the room raising both hands to let herself being pulled up onto the bed.

"Hawwy 'n daddy awe too lazy," Holly complained in a whiny voice. "I wanna go flying, but no one takes me."

Harry smiled at his small sister, before he brought himself into a sitting position and said, "I'm sorry sweetie, I really slept a lot, but I'll go and take you flying now."

The girl sat up straigt. "Weally?" she asked in apparent excitement.

"Yes, if you fetch me my broom," Harry replied, smirking, as he had no idea what broom he owned and where he kept it. _'I only know that I must have a broom,'_ he thought, _'considering that I'm playing on two of the Hogwarts teams.'_

"Mummy, goin' flying wif Hawwy," Harry heard Holly shouted through their quarters.

_'Oh no, did I have to ask Mum first?'_ Harry wondered, feeling very uncertain how to behave towards his mother. He hurriedly got up and dressed, not an instant too early, as his mother chose that moment to enter his room.

"Holly told me that you were going to take her flying," Lily spoke up, sounding surprised.

"Yes, sorry, is that all right? Should I rather play with Tom?" Harry queried, quirking an eyebrow in a very Snape-ish manner.

"No, sweetie, Tom's asleep," Lily replied, letting out a long sigh as she continued, "You may go flying, provided that you're well enough. Your father told me that your condition was not good in your old timeline, and I'd like you to go to Aunt Poppy and have her check on you before doing something as strenuous as flying."

"No mum," Harry said, heatedly, "I'm fine." _'Oh no, I just hope mum won't make a fuss every time I want to do anything,'_ he thought, feeling extremely annoyed.

"Very well then, go for this time," Lily finally relented, although she did not seem very happy about it. "We'll discuss the matter again later on together with your father," she told him in a firm voice.

HP

Even if he could only fly as high and as fast as his small sister's broom allowed her to fly, Harry enjoyed himself flying together with Holly, who seemed very bright and talented. Only when it slowly began to get dark did he usher the small girl back into the castle.

"Fanku Hawwy," she said, happily, on their way back to their quarters. "When I'm big, I'm going to pway fow Gwiffindow and Slydewin too," she added, smiling broadly.

"If you continue practising like this, you'll surely be able to play on a House team," Harry replied, glad that his sister lead him back home, as he had not paid any attention to where their quarters were situated. "If you want, we can take a Snitch with us the next time," he offered, having seen a memory, in which he had been flying together with Holly and Alex. In that memory, the little ones had eagerly searched for the Snitch, while he had observed them with amusement.

"Yeah," Holly shouted, excitedly.

HP

Just before they reached the Snapes' quarters, Alex stepped into their way. "Harry, I need you to help me with something," the six-year-old spoke up, giving him a pleading look.

"Of course, Alex, what is it?" Harry replied, smiling down at his small brother.

Alex smirked. "I want to send Uncle Albus a Christmas present," he explained, seemingly hesitating.

"Uncle Albus as in Albus Dumbledore?" Harry queried, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yes of course," Alex confirmed, "but I want to send a chocolate frog that duplicates itself as soon as he takes it out of the box, so that his office will be full of chocolate frogs on Christmas."

Harry inwardly groaned but replied, "Oh I'm sure that Uncle Albus will be very happy about that. So you need help with the duplicating charm I suppose?"

"Yes. We already asked Neville, because you were asleep, but he only knows one that would duplicate the frog once but not continuously."

Harry grinned. _'I can't wait to get to know this timeline's Neville,'_ he thought. _'I think we're going to have much fun.' _Seeing that his brother and sister were looking up to him in expectation, he suggested, "Why don't you just use wish magic to apply a duplicating charm? I can do that for you if you show me the frog."

Alex slapped his hand against his forehead. "Oh no of course, that'll do. Thank you Harry. I didn't think of the easiest way."

HP

As soon as the three siblings entered their quarters, their father called Harry over to the fireplace. "Holly and Alex, please go and help your mother looking after Tom for a moment. Harry, please join me here. I believe that we have something to discuss."

_'Oh no,'_ Harry thought, inwardly rolling his eyes in annoyance. _'It's nice to have parents, but do they have to make a fuss about everything?'_

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments! See you tomorrow..._


	21. December 21

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**21 December**

Severus motioned Harry to sit on the sofa, while he lowered himself into his favourite armchair in front of the fireplace. "Harry," he began to speak in a stern voice that made Harry wonder what he had done wrong. "If your mother tells you something, you are to obey. Do you understand that?"

"Yes sir," Harry replied, thinking, _'What did I do? She said I could take Holly flying.'_

"Your mother instructed you to visit Madam Pomfrey or Aunt Poppy as you seem to call her in this timeline; however, she told me that you refused because you didn't think it was necessary," Severus continued, holding up his hand to stop Harry when the boy opened his mouth to reply. "Apart from the fact that it is definitely necessary, you must obey to what your parents or teachers tell you. I won't punish you this time, as I understand that you must get used to having parents to look after you. However, if it happens again, you're going to be grounded. Do you understand me?"

"Yes sir. I'm sorry. I'm so used to looking after myself..." He slowly trailed off.

"I see," Severus said, nodding in understanding. "Very well then," he continued in a lighter tone, "How is life in this timeline so far? Did you receive any interesting memories?"

Harry let out a long sigh, before he answered. "Yes, on the one hand, it's totally confusing, because I've many friends who weren't even alive in the old timeline. On the other hand, it's a great thing because it makes me believe that we did the right thing." He smiled at his father. "Thank you Dad, for going together with me. I wouldn't have been able to do this on my own."

Severus returned the smile. "I'm very glad how everything turned out, too. Having the most brilliant witch of all times as my wife along with four lovely children is a great improvement to being the bat of the dungeons," he said, smirking, causing Harry to chuckle.

"Dad, you've never been a bat of the dungeons," he spoke up, grinning.

"Ah, leave it to your friend Weasley to call me that," Severus informed him. "Maybe you didn't notice, but I heard it."

"Ron," Harry said, pensively. "He seems not to be my friend in this timeline.

"Severus, Harry," Lily suddenly entered the living room, interrupting their conversation. "Are you finished with your talk? I'm sorry, but the Longbottoms are going to arrive for dinner in a few minutes. Minerva excused us from dinner in the Great Hall, and I thought we could have dinner together here. They are the only ones apart from Minerva, Poppy and Minister Dumbledore who know about your trip to the past, so that you can ask them whatever you want about our timeline."

"Thank Merlin," Harry said, gratefully. "I feel really unsure about how to behave around people, especially those whom I didn't even meet in the old timeline."

"Harry," Lily replied, giving him a warm smile, "I suggest that you take Holly to class with you. She'll manage everything for you."

Harry couldn't help chuckling. "I can very well imagine that," he replied, gratefully at the suggestion, "but what about Tom? I can't take both children to class with me now, can I?"

Severus smirked. "Maybe just take Holly for the time being, while you might need her help. When you get used to everything, you can take Tom. I'm sure that your mother won't mind taking Tom with her for a while."

"Of course not," Lily reassured him, grinning. "He's such a cute baby. I'm sure all the girls are going to fuss over him."

"Maybe that's what he needs," Severus commented, dryly. "All right then, let's have dinner with the Longbottoms."

HP

Like in the memories, which he had watched during the weekend, Neville was a much brighter, funny boy than he had been in his old timeline, and Harry enjoyed himself greatly talking with his friend as well as with Aunt Alice and Uncle Frank, who were his godparents in this timeline.

The centre of attention was Tom, and Harry smirked seeing everyone making a fuss over the baby. To his surprise, Tom insisted on sitting on Harry's lap and obediently munched the baby food that Harry fed him. _'He really is a cutie,'_ he thought, feeling very happy that he had managed to prevent the smart boy from becoming a monster.

Suddenly, when everyone began to eat their dessert and Harry just wondered if he should give Tom a few spoonfuls, their heads turned into those of parrots. Immediately, everyone's attention became diverted towards Alex and Felix, who were sitting next to each other wearing too innocent expressions. Of course, the two six-year-olds did not have parrot heads.

"Alex and Felix, I suppose that was you," Lily spoke up, angrily.

Not waiting for a response, Severus queried, "Please enlighten us when and where you brewed that potion?"

"Err... in the Potions classroom..."

"... before you went to the past," the children replied, smirking.

"And who supervised you if I may ask?" Alice threw in, equally upset as her best friend.

"Err... Harry?"

"Me?" Harry spoke up, terrified. "No... at least I don't remember it," he added, giving his father a questioning look. _'And if so, you should not give me out,'_ he thought, glaring at the two six-year-olds.

"Oh well, if Harry supervised you, it's all right then," Lily spoke up, sounding rather proud instead of angry. "Congrats to a well brewed potion, Felix and Alex. I think it would have been more fun to use it on the students than on us though."

"Err..."

"We think..."

"that everyone at the teachers' table is wearing parrot heads now," Alex and Felix informed her, exchanging an amused glance, before they turned to Harry. "Harryyy? Do you have time for us after dinner?"

Harry rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Sorry little ones, but not tonight. I'm going to help Mum with Tom first, and then I think it's about bed time for you anyway," he replied, giving his mother a questioning look.

"Exactly," Lily and Alice agreed, simultaneously.

"Hawwy, can I help bafing Tom?" Holly, who had been quiet so far since her head had turned into that of a parrot, asked with excitement. "I'm big aweady and can help."

"Yes, of course you may help," Harry replied, smiling at his sister, before he turned to Tom. "Now shall we give you a nice, warm bath, Tom?"

The baby let out a happy squeal, grabbing a bunch of green feathers with his little hand.

"Ouch Tom, leave it, that hurts," Harry told him, prying small fingers off his head.

"How long will it take until the potion wears off?" Lily queried, looking sternly from Alex to Harry and, seeing that they both merely shrugged, to Severus.

"I suppose that it'll wear off in about two hours," Severus replied, glaring at the two six-year-olds.

_'They remind me of the Weasley twins,'_ Harry thought, inwardly grinning.

HP

Later on, when they had bathed Tom and Holly and the smaller children were already asleep, Harry and Neville sat in Harry's room talking for a while.

"I think we should get back at Felix and Alex and really prank them," Neville suddenly spoke up, causing Harry to look at his friend in surprise, especially when he continued, "And I've already got an idea."

_'Neville is completely different from what he was before,'_ Harry realised, smirking. "And what might that be?" he queried, quirking an eyebrow.

_tbc..._

_Again a huge thanks to the kind readers who reviewed. I am sorry if you expect things in this story that I am leaving out. The chapters are too short to explain everything about the new timeline, but since it is a daily Advent's Calendar story, there is nothing to do about it. More tomorrow..._


	22. December 22

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**22 December **

Neville chuckled. "It's a bit mean though," he admitted, before he explained, "We should make them drink a potion that transfigures them into some kind of animal on Christmas morning, so that they have a hard time opening presents and playing with them."

Harry grinned. "That's true, it's a bit mean," he said, thoughtfully. "On the other hand, don't tell me that they don't deserve it. Maybe we should just use a spell instead of a potion, so that it can easily be cancelled."

"All right, that's better," Neville agreed. "Now we only need to decide on an animal."

"Neville, curfew is going to begin in five minutes," Lily informed them, looking into the room.

"Mum," Harry spoke up, after Neville had left, "should I take Tom into my room overnight? I'm just not sure if I'll wake up when he whines."

Lily fondly ruffled her son's hair. "Don't worry about that, sweetie. Your father won't hear him either, but after three children I'm already used to getting up during the night. For you it's much more important to sleep and retrieve your memories of the new timeline."

Harry nodded, sighing.

"Are you ready to attend classes in the morning, Harry?" Lily asked in apparent concern.

"Of course," Harry reassured her, efficiently trying to sound more confident than he actually was.

HP

In the morning, Harry took Holly to class with him. Apparently, he had already done so very often; it was just that he could not remember it. "Where do we usually sit?" he whispered to his sister, when they entered the Charms classroom for the first morning class.

Holly chuckled, happily. "Come Hawwy," she laughed and pulled him to a seat in the first row, between Hermione and Neville.

"Good morning young lady. How are you on this lovely Monday morning?" Hermione greeted Holly, who gave the older witch a bright smile.

"I'm fine, but my Hawwy isn't. He's fowgettable," Holly informed the girl, who cast Harry a worried look.

"Harry, are you all right?" she asked in apparent concern.

"Of course," Harry replied, shaking his head in annoyance. "Holly, you're a chatterbox." He lowered himself into the seat and allowed Holly to make herself comfortable on his lap, just when Lily entered the classroom with Tom in her arm.

"My little bwoda Tom," Holly explained, happily, causing Hermione to stare from her to Harry in surprise.

"Later," Harry whispered and observed how Lily placed the baby into a playpen that was equipped with several small toys and books.

However, Tom seemed to have other ideas. As soon as he had spotted his big brother, he pulled himself up and began to wail, raising little arms in Harry's direction.

"I must look after my Tommy," Holly blurted out, and before Harry knew what happened, she slid from his lap and toddled over to the playpen. Seeing that her mother was just busy with a small group of students in the back of the classroom, she carefully pulled the baby out of the playpen. "Shh shhh my Tommy, evyting is awwight, I take you to Hawwy," she said in a soothing voice, as she carried the baby to her adored big brother, unaware that most of the students observed her in amusement.

"Thank you Holly," Harry whispered, as he took the baby from her. "What's wrong, Tom?" he asked in a small voice. "Why don't you play in your playpen?"

However, Tom contentedly nestled into Harry's robes and drifted off to sleep, the teddy, which Harry had conjured for him on the day they had fetched him from the orphanage, firmly tucked under his left arm and the thumb of his right hand in his mouth.

Only by the collective "Awww" at the sight of Baby Tom sleeping in Harry's arms did Lily realise what had happened and rolled her eyes in annoyance.

To Harry's relief, Tom remained asleep during the whole Charms lesson, even when he slightly shifted the baby from his right to his left arm, whenever he needed to cast a spell. Only when Lily tried to pry him off Harry's arms at the end of the class, Tom began to wail and kick his little feet against her arms, while small fists fiercely held on to Harry's robes.

"It's all right Mum, I'll just take him with me," Harry finally said, glancing at Holly.

"All right Harry, but you can't take both children with you," Lily replied, sighing in exasperation.

"Holly, will you come with me then?" Hermione offered, smiling at the little girl, who immediately returned the smile.

"Yes," she agreed, nodding fiercely. "I must look aftew my Hawwy and my Tommy," she explained, wearing an expression as if the weight of the world lasted on her shoulders.

"Holly, I can very well look after myself," Harry threw in, "it would be nice if you helped me keep an eye on Tommy though." Only when Holly turned around to impatiently listen to her mother, he unobtrusively thanked Hermione.

"Any time Harry," the girl said, smiling.

_'Thank Merlin it's only two more days of school before the winter holidays begin,'_ Harry mused at the end of the last afternoon class, as he readied himself to carry Tom home.

"Harry, are we still going to study in your room like we did before and during the test week?" Hermione suddenly queried, giving him a questioning look.

"We can do that," Harry replied quickly, trying to hide his surprise from his friend. _'Does that mean only Mione and I, or are others involved?'_ he wondered, as he walked back home together with Hermione and Neville. Holly was jumping around the small group, and Tom was snuggled into Harry's robes, cheering at the portraits along the walls.

When they arrived at the Snapes' quarters, Harry realised, astonished, that Draco, Millicent and Blaise were waiting in front of the door.

HP

If Harry had wondered how he could study and look after Holly and Tom at the same time, he realised soon that none of his friends were in the mood to study anymore. Instead, they played with Holly and Tom and were soon joined by Alex and Felix, when the six-year-olds heard continuous laughter coming from Harry's room.

By the time they all had to head to the Great Hall for dinner, Harry felt exhausted but overall happy. _'It's awesome to have a real family and good friends at that. I'm the happiest boy in the world,'_ he thought, as he trailed behind his friends, relieved that his parents had insisted to take Holly and Tom for the time being, so that Harry could relax and enjoy dinner. However, all of a sudden, Hermione whispered to him.

"Harry, do you have a few minutes after dinner?" she queried, giving him a sharp look, before she explained, "There's something that I'd like to discuss in private."

"Of course," Harry replied, trying to sound more confident than he felt. _'I wonder what it's about,'_ he thought. _'I just hope she doesn't ask me about anything that I don't even remember.'_

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments. More tomorrow..._


	23. December 23

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**23 December**

Dinner was barely finished and Harry had just risen from his seat, when he felt something pull at his robes. It was his sister. "Holly," he said in surprise, following the little girl's finger that was pointing to a spot between the Head table and the Gryffindor table.

"Tommy can cwawl aweady," Holly informed him, smiling.

"Yes," Harry agreed, exchanging a glance with Hermione, before he hurried to pick up the baby from the floor. "Tom it's too dangerous to crawl here, when so many students are around," he told him in a gentle but firm voice, before he turned back to Holly. "Holly, I need to speak with Hermione in private for a moment. Can you please go back to Mum or Dad and return home with them?"

"It's all right," Hermione threw in, smiling. "We can just take them with us and talk in your room if you don't mind."

HP

Fifteen minutes later, the two first years were sitting in Harry's room, observing Holly and Tom play on the floor in amusement.

"You wanted to speak about something?" Harry queried, hesitantly.

"Yes," Hermione confirmed, giving Harry a sharp look, as she said, "I have the impression as if you somehow changed since the last weekend. Did anything happen to you? Sorry, don't misunderstand me, I'm not complaining about anything, I'm just worried. You behave differently from before."

Harry smiled, knowing that his best friend was too clever to keep anything from her. Therefore, he just told her everything. To his relief, she did not interrupt him once but contented herself to quietly listen to his explanations. Only when he finished speaking, looking at her in expectation, she blurted out, "Oh Merlin, what a story. Harry, you're just absolutely amazing. Thanks so much for doing this for all of us."

Harry smiled. "Well, I didn't exactly do it for everyone, but I was just forced to do it. Plus, I'm profiting a lot from the fact that Tom didn't become such a monster in the past. In my old timeline, Tom gave me a scar when he killed my parents, and when I was in the past attending school together with him, I had a permanent headache due to the connection between my scar and him. Now I don't have that stupid scar, my parents are alive, I have cute little siblings, and I'm just really totally happy, which I definitely wasn't in the old timeline."

"Oh Harry, I'm so glad that everything worked out so well for you," Hermione replied, smiling warmly. "Just one question. Have we been friends in your old timeline too?"

Harry smiled. "Yes, you've been my best friend from the beginning," he reassured the girl, who in return pulled him into a bear hug.

HP

Mere two days later, Harry had to realise that siblings were not just cute but could very well mean trouble as well. After the last afternoon class, he and his friends had once more assembled in his room, when Lily stuck her head through the door.

"Harry, your father and I have to attend a staff meeting until dinner. Will you please look after your siblings?"

"Of course," Harry replied, smiling happily.

"Alex is playing with Felix in his room," his mother informed him, before she hurried away.

The six first-years took turns playing with Holly and Tom, while they made plans for the winter holidays, which were going to begin on the following day.

"I wished we could just remain here," Hermione spoke up, sighing. "As much as I love my parents, I've never had any friends before. I'm so going to miss you all, plus I'm going to miss the library."

"Yes same here," Millicent agreed, causing Draco to speak up, pensively.

"Maybe we could ask our parents if we may return to Hogwarts earlier?" he suggested. "Perhaps Professor Snape or Professor Evans-Snape could give us some extra-curricular assignment, which we need to do here together or something."

"Oh Draco, that's a brilliant idea," Hermione agreed immediately, causing Harry and Neville to laugh.

"Do you really need some extra-curricular activity in order to come and visit us?" Neville asked, incredulously. "How about Harry and I invite you to a New Year's Eve party? We need to ask our parents first of course, but they'll surely agree, don't you think so, Harry?"

"Probably yes," Harry said, nodding. "It would be great to have you all back here on New Year's Eve. We could all sleep here together and maybe the girls in Holly's room. I'll ask my parents right after dinner."

HP

Unfortunately, none of the first years had noticed that Alex and Felix were not peacefully playing in Alex' room anymore. Only when Harry went to call them for dinner did he realise that the two six-year-olds had left their quarters.

"Maybe they're in Felix' room," Neville said, thoughtfully, and the small group made the short detour to the Longbottoms' quarters.

However, there was no sign of the two boys. "Oh no," Neville groaned. "Who knows what they're doing now? We're going to be in so much trouble."

"True," Harry agreed, dully. "Oh well, we still need to go to the Great Hall now. Maybe they've just gone ahead." He did not notice the strange look that he received from Neville; however, when they reached the entrance hall, he knew immediately that something was terribly wrong.

A huge crowd of students, mainly Slytherins, who had come from the dungeons, were standing in the entrance hall observing something on the big staircase leading upstairs with apparent interest and amusement.

Harry quickly made his way through the crowd until he reached the staircase, where he stopped dead in his tracks. The part of the staircase that led straight to the entrance hall had been transfigured into a giant ice rink, and not only Alex and Felix but also some other children of their age were happily sliding down, before they climbed up again using small steps that had remained on the right hand side of the staircase. Some of the younger Gryffindor students were sitting on the ice, enthusiastically sliding down the rink in order to get to the Great Hall; however, most part of the Gryffindor students were standing on top of the ice rink watching the scene with a combination of amusement and annoyance.

"Oh no, they're going to be in so much trouble," Harry whispered to Neville.

"And we with them," his friend whispered back, "but what can we do?"

Before Harry could come up with an idea, Hagrid's voice penetrated the entrance hall.

"All students go te the Great Hall. Lil' ones, leave the ice rink now, 'cause I'm goin' te change it back te normal."

Feeling very happy to see how everyone followed Hagrid's instructions with apparent respect, Harry observed how the half-giant restored everything to its usual state, waving a proper wand, before he grabbed Alex and Felix by the ears and pulled them with him into the Great Hall.

Harry and Neville exchanged a glance that meant 'Trouble', before they followed their friends inside.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for the kind comments! More tomorrow..._


	24. December 24

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**24 December**

The Snapes and the Longbottoms were very upset about their six-year-old sons' behaviour; however, to Harry's and Neville's relief, their anger was not directed at the older brothers. Both couples knew all too well that herding cats was easier than to keep an eye on their two little troublemakers. Alex and Felix were grounded until New Year's day, which meant that they were not allowed to play together - about the worst punishment imaginable for the two six-year-olds.

Consecutively, neither of them was allowed to assist decorating the huge Christmas tree in the Great Hall in the morning of Christmas Eve. Instead, each of them had to clean their own rooms under the supervision of their fathers.

Harry felt very excited. Since he still did not remember much of the new timeline, it was the first time for him to decorate a Christmas tree. Following his mother's example, he took a tissue from a huge pile of tissues and transfigured it into a golden bauble. _'And now?'_ he wondered, helplessly observing how Lily and Alice proceeded to charm their baubles to beautiful ornaments.

"Hawwy, make a unicown fow me... pweeeeease," Holly brought him out of his musings, causing Harry to smile.

_'Of course, I can just use wish magic,'_ he realised and wished a white and a pink unicorn onto the bauble. Ignoring Holly's enthusiastic comments, he added a small ball and wished for the unicorns to play with it.

"Miiiiine," Holly shouted, happily. "Fanku Hawwyyy."

"I'm happy you like it," Harry replied, smiling as he put the ornament onto the tree.

"Very well done, Harry," his mother commended him, before she advised him to cast an unbreakable charm at the bauble and told him the incantation.

Tom, who had been sitting on his play mat on the floor so far, suddenly crawled over to the tree and reached out for the baubles. However, all the decoration was hanging too high for him, and he began to wail.

"Wait Tom, I'm going to make one for you now," Harry promised, while Holly excitedly tried to pull the baby away from the Christmas tree. Transfiguring a new tissue into another golden bauble, he added a couple of white, black and orange cats that were playing ball with a ball of red yarn. He cast the unbreakable charm at the ornament and handed it to Tom, who happily took it into his small hands, giving Harry a toothy smile.

When the tree was completely decorated, Harry lifted Tom on his arm and showed him all the colourful decoration, causing the baby to squeal in delight as he reached out for the ornaments.

"Hawwy me too," Holly shouted, impatiently waiting for her brother to place Tom back on the ground.

HP

Suddenly, Lily took Harry aside. "Harry, I know that the last few days were very stressful for you, but have you thought about buying or making any Christmas presents for your friends?" she queried in a small voice, causing Harry to cast his mother a horrified look.

"I'm sorry Mum, I can't remember ever having a proper Christmas before. At the Dursleys, I had to cook dinner and then they locked me into the cupboard. And Father Christmas brought presents only for good boys," he informed his mother, his voice barely above a whisper.

Lily frowned. "Harry, here in this timeline, you've always received gifts from your friends and brewed or bought presents for them as well. If you want, we can go to Hogsmeade together this afternoon, and I'll help you with it."

Harry sighed in relief. "Yes please, that would be... No Tom, leave it," he interrupted himself, carefully prying small fingers from his glasses. "Sorry Mum, yes, I'd like that."

HP

Harry spent most of the afternoon in Hogsmeade, together with Lily, Holly and Tom. The small town was very much crowded, and Harry was glad that his mother and Holly efficiently helped him choose gifts for his friends, so that they could swiftly return to Hogwarts. The only present that took him a longer time to choose was Tom's. He did not want to buy another cuddly toy for the baby. Apart from the fact that it was easy to just make one by transfiguring tissues or something into an animal, Holly had given Tom two of her own stuffed animals; however, Tom had ignored them all and was only always cuddling the teddy that he had received from Harry.

Finally, Harry decided on a book made from quilt with magical animals that really felt like the skin of the animals when touched. When the face of an animal was touched, it began to make sounds, and with a touch of a specific area on the outside cover, the book transformed into a play mat. _'I hope he'll like it,'_ he thought, uncertainly.

"Don't worry," Lily reassured him, when he voiced his thoughts, "Tom absolutely adores you, and he'll like anything you give him." Seeing Harry give her an indignant look, she added, "This book is a just the right thing for him. I'm sure he'll love it."

"I wike too," Holly threw in, giving Harry a pleading look.

Unable to resist his sister's gaze, Harry unobtrusively bought another, similar book, although he had already bought a present for the girl. _'How strange,'_ he thought in amusement. _'She was with me all the time but didn't notice what I bought for her.' _The book was not about animals but magical plants. Instead of the sounds, the reader could experience the smell of each specific plant. _'Dad will surely approve of it,'_ he thought, chuckling, _'considering that they're the most common herbs used as potions ingredients.'_

HP

Later in the evening, when his small siblings were already asleep, Harry paid Neville a quick visit in order to discuss the prank that they were going to play on the two six-year-olds on Christmas morning.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments! More tomorrow... Merry Christmas to you all :-)_


	25. December 25

**The Prophecy for Christmas**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

**25 December**

On the way to the Great Hall for breakfast on Christmas morning, Harry unobtrusively transfigured Alex and Felix into baboons. The two six-year-olds stared at each other in disbelief, before they both began to giggle and run around with apparent amusement.

Breakfast took much too long for Harry's liking, not only because he was curious to know what his family and friends had sent him for Christmas, but also because he couldn't wait to see his small siblings' eyes when they opened the gifts that he had chosen for them. When the adults were still enjoying their tea, all of a sudden the door to the Great Hall was opened and Father Christmas stepped into the room. He crossed the Great Hall in a slow speed, and Harry saw from the corner of his eyes how Alex and Felix became smaller in their seats with every step.

Father Christmas came to stand in front of the table and pulled a large, old tome out of his robe pocket. He consulted his book and called out, "Alex Snape and Felix Longbottom. Where are you? Come here to me."

Two small baboons stepped in front of Father Christmas, obviously frightened but nevertheless grinning.

However, Father Christmas continued, "I have heard that you've flooded the Minister of Magic's office with chocolate frogs. Now the whole Ministry of Magic is flooded, no one can do their work anymore, and the magical world of Britain is about to collapse. Even Hogwarts will have to be closed after the holidays."

The two baboons were obviously close to crying, when Alex turned around to view his family. "Harry, Dad, can you do anything to prevent that?" he sobbed, looking horrified.

"Well well," Father Christmas threw in, "maybe you can try to be very good boys now and be a good example for your little brother Tom..."

He interrupted himself, when Tom, who had followed the scene from his play mat on the floor, suddenly began to panic as he felt Father Christmas look at him. Even if he had not understood all the words, he realised that the atmosphere was very stern and that his older brother seemed to be scared of the old man in front of him. "Ha-wyyyy," he shouted, stretching both arms into the air to let himself being picked up.

Harry smiled and gently picked up the baby, whispering soothing words into his ear, while Father Christmas finished his discussion with the two pranksters and handed each of them a self-refilling box of chocolate frogs.

Now Father Christmas called out "Severus and Harry Snape, my angels have told me that you did extraordinary things this year. I believe that everyone is very grateful and you deserve the Order of Merlin first class for your achievement."

Severus and Harry had both moved a little in the direction of the old wizard, if only in order to keep appearances in front of the little ones, however, none of them reached out to accept what Father Christmas held out to them. Therefore, the old wizard pressed the two boxes in Lily's hands and merely said to the two younger wizards, "Congratulation my boys. You've done a brilliant job."

Hearing his father mumble something that sounded like "Meddling old coot," Harry couldn't help laughing.

"Thank you Father Christmas," he replied, sighing in relief, when Holly stepped in to save the situation.

"Fader Chwismas, I've been a vewy good giwl too, and I looketed aftew my Tommy dis mowning," she informed the old wizard, taking in his long, white beard with apparent amazement.

"Holly Snape," Father Christmas read from his large book, "Yes, my angels told me that you've been a very good girl and helped your big brother and Tommy a lot after they returned from their trip last week. Let's see what I have for you." He rummaged in his robe pocket that seemed to be very large from the inside and pulled out a huge, colourful package. "Have fun little one," he said, smiling, before he turned to Tom.

"Tom Snape," he called out in a soft voice.

However, Tom buried his face in Harry's robes, frightened.

"Tommy, Father Christmas wants to give you a present," Harry whispered into his ear. "Shall we go together and see what he has for you?" Not waiting for a response and knowing that the Minister of Magic surely had other things to do apart from playing Father Christmas at Hogwarts, he stepped in front of the old wizard with Tom nestled deep in his robes.

"My angels told me that you're a very good little boy," Father Christmas told the baby and handed him a slightly long package.

"Thank you so much for everything, Professor," Harry whispered to the old wizard and gratefully accepted the gift on Tom's behalf. Only when he had unwrapped the baby's broom, on which the baby could comfortably sit and fly just above the ground, Tom began to cheer again.

"Hawwy," he said, giving his adored big brother a pleading look, which Harry was unable to resist.

During the following hour, he busied himself helping and supervising Tom on his baby broom, before Tom began to yawn and Severus motioned Harry and Tom to follow him into their quarters.

HP

"Dad, what's wrong?" Harry asked in concern, looking from his father to Tom, who had fallen asleep in his arm.

Severus shook his head. "Nothing son. I just noticed that Tom was tired and thought it was the right time to give him my Christmas present." Seeing that Harry eyed him in confusion, he explained, "Your mother and I decided to give him a blood adoption potion in order to make him our real son, and since it might be slightly uncomfortable for him, it's the best to give it to him when he's asleep."

"Oh all right, that's true," Harry agreed, as he made himself comfortable on the sofa in the living room with Tom fast asleep on his lap.

An hour later, the three wizards returned to the Great Hall, knowing that everyone was going to make a huge fuss over the baby, who looked even cuter than before with his large, emerald green eyes.

_'I've such an amazing family,'_ Harry thought, feeling happier than he had ever felt before. "Dad," he addressed his father, who in return quirked an eyebrow in silent question. "Shall we make a small detour and pay the Founders a visit? I'd like to thank them again and to wish them a Happy Christmas."

**The End**

**_Thank you for your kind support throughout this story and Merry Christmas to you all!_**


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